The photovoltaic panels can serve as a solution for increasing the energy efficiency of apartment buildings, in particular of multistory buildings erected in the Soviet period. A group of energy experts carried out a study to analyze energy consumption in a number of multistory buildings in the municipalities of Chisinau and Balti, with different geometrical characteristics and erected in different years. They ascertained that the electricity generated by photovoltaic panels covers the power needs of elevators and in common use places.
In a news conference hosted by IPN, expert Galina Verdeș said that most of the multistory blocks in the municipalities of Chisinau and Balti were built in the Soviet period and no longer meet the current norms. As a result, they consume a large volume of electricity. There are a lot of problems related to the efficient management of blocks from energy viewpoint, owing also to the large debts to suppliers.
According to Galina Verdeș, energy consumption in apartment buildings consists of the consumption of electrical energy and heat. Each of these components has a quota in power consumption in common use places and in block maintenance systems. This way, the common heat consumption is that quota that is lost in the basement, on technical floors and on stairs of the block. Electricity is used to light stairs, basements, entrances of buildings and to run elevators.
The costs associated with the power used to operate elevators and in common use places could be fully covered if energy efficiency solutions are implemented. Galina Verdeș said the photovoltaic panels could be one of these solutions. There is experience in installing and using these. They are maintained easily and do not make noise, while the net metering mechanism enables to use them advantageously.
The study authors formulated a number of recommendations. Expert Sergiu Ungureanu said that a nationwide campaign to inform and train associations of dwellers, including for municipal housing managing companies, needs to be conducted. Initiative groups should be created to optimize energy consumption. The development partners should be requested to launch financing programs that would cover 50-80% of the investment costs.
“The access to the network for association of dwellers needs to be simplified. Technical support should be offered through state institutions. Stricter control is needed over the issuing of connection notices and increased power should be permitted to be installed so as to cover a larger quota of the electricity and heat,” stated Sergiu Ungureanu.
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