Twenty-eight thermal stations built from World Bank resources will provide 35 public institutions with heat

A number of 28 thermal stations were built in Moldova during the implementation of the thermal component of the Second Energy Project financed by the Wold Bank. They supply with heat apartment blocks and 35 public institutions that are attended by over 1.2 mln people a year. The public institutions that benefited from the project were mainly schools, nurseries, and district hospitals located in small towns. According to Piotr Comarov, representative of the Second Energy Project’s Implementation Unit, the external thermal pipes delivering heat to the institutions were reconstructed, while the internal heat and hot water supply systems in some buildings were replaced. The new systems provide with heat an area of over 700,000 square metres. The system works automatically; the temperature of the thermal energy is adjusted to the temperature of the air and to the heat and hot water necessities of the institutions. There were installed boilers with an efficiency of over 92% and a reduced level of emissions of greenhouse gases and noxious substances into the atmosphere. The construction of steam boilers is being finished, the external thermal pipes and the heat and hot water supply systems in the National Clinical Hospital and in the Oncological Institute are being reconstructed also as part of the thermal component of the project. There are set up new thermal points for efficiently supplying Chisinau with heat in a centralized way. The Second Energy Project has been implemented since March 2004. The Wold Bank offered 35 mln USD of the total project’s budget of 44.2 mln USD and the Government of Moldova and the Swedish International Development Agency the remainder. The World Bank credit was provided under the standard terms of the International Development Agency. It is repayable in 40 years, with a grace period of 10 years. The Second Energy Project was recently extended until December 31, 2009 to implement the electro-energy component worth 16 mln USD. This component envisages investment in metering the power distribution networks, rehabilitation and modernization of the dispatcher’s system, renovation and updating of the telecommunication system and reconstruction of the electricity transmission lines.