The works to build the 400 kV Vulcănești–Chisinau overhead power transmission line (OHL) and the Vulcănești Back-to-Back Substation  will be declared public utility of national interest. The Cabinet approved a bill to this effect on March 23, IPN reports.

Minter of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spînu in the Cabinet’s meeting said that this project will ensure Moldova’s energy security by interconnection with the internal power market of the EU through electricity grids and will build up the internal power transmission networks.

The project envisages the construction of a 400 kV overhead power transmission line with a length of approximately 158 km in the direction of Vulcanesti – Chisinau, which will cross the territory of 35 localities in 9 regions of the country, including UTA Gagauzia and the municipality Chisinau. Together with the back-to-back conversion station in Vulcănești, the OHL represents a major project of asynchronous interconnection of the energy system in the Republic of Moldova with that in Romania and, implicitly, with the European Network of Transmission System Operators of Electricity (ENTSO-E) and the Integrated Power System/United Power System (IPS/UPS).

The construction of the Vulcănești-Chisinau OHL is part of the Energy System Development Project of the Republic of Moldova (PDSE) to ensure the interconnection of energy systems in Romania and Moldova, PDSE, which also provides for the construction of a Back-to-Back Substation in Vulcănești, works for the extension of the 400 kV substation in Vulcănești and for the modernization of the 330 kV substation in Chisinau. Funding will be provided from the €260 million package in which the EBRD and the EIB participate, with loans of €80 million each, and also the International Development Association, with a loan of €61 million and EBRD, with a grant of €40 million. The last agreement was signed in September 2019, was ratified and took effect in December 2019.