The National Agency for Energy Regulation (NAER) stopped the export of electrical energy in order to make sure the country is supplied with power. At the same time, Energocom does not buy electricity from local producers, said Vyacheslav Moldovan, the representative of a local company that produces electrical energy from renewable sources. According to the entrepreneur, the authorities prefer large contracts with MGRES or Romania to the detriment of local companies. However, the state does not offer small producers the possibility of selling energy outside the country, IPN reports.
Local entrepreneurs that produce electricity from renewable sources of energy said that for the country to be supplied with power, the NAER decided to ban the export of electricity, but the state-run company Energocom, which was empowered to purchase electricity, ignores the local producers.
“The company I manage can offer over 4 million kW a month. Last September, we informed Energocom that we could sell 4.5 million kW to it. We also offered a discount on the lowest price we would identify. No one responded to our proposal. Today, as producers, we cannot sell to someone except for Energocom, while Energocom does not purchase the power we produce. The only solution was to identity foreign markets. We found them and last September started to export to Ukraine,” the manager of ML Energy-Group Vyacheslav Moldovan stated in the program “Freedom Territory”.
He noted that after local electricity producers started to export power to Ukraine, the NAER blocked the process by a decision based on the October 13 order made by the Commission for Exceptional Situations. The Agency banned the export of electricity.
“Ukraine was in a crisis last September and was glad to purchase our electricity, but the Government took a politically correct decision to stop the export. The priority was to supply the country with energy. This is a correct, but incomplete decision. They stopped the export, but do not buy our electricity,” said Vyacheslav Moldovan.
“When we speak about the local renewable energy market, we must say that the production volume here is small. If the local market players do not want to buy cheaper electricity, the producers should be allowed to sell power where it is in demand. Now that the energy crisis was solved and we do not have a significant shortage of electricity, the state should offer these producers a competitive price or should enable them to sell outside the country,” explained energy expert Victor Parlicov.
Currently, the Republic of Moldova purchases electrical energy from the Kuchurgan power plant (MGRES) at the price of US$73 per MW. The contract for the supply of power with the plant is valid until the end of March. The content of the given contract is kept secret. Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu says MGRES is against publishing the document.
