Caucasus (bbabo.net), - Moldova, with the help of Bucharest, hopes to obtain a profitable alternative to the electricity currently supplied by MoldGRES, located in Transnistria, owned by Inter RAO. Romanian Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja spoke about this in an interview with the Azerbaijani publication Report.
He noted that a project for transporting electricity from Azerbaijan via an electric cable along the bottom of the Black Sea is currently being developed. Burduja clarified that four countries - Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary - have created a project company to lay the offshore electrical pipeline. Transport operators have joined forces and are now working on a feasibility study after awarding a contract to the company to develop a technical documentation package.
“Once this is done, perhaps in six months, maybe later, we will know exactly how much the project costs, whether it is worth pursuing from a commercial point of view, what the steps are, how long it will take and how technically complex it is,” Burduja added.
The minister explained that the goal is to receive additional electricity from the Caucasus and send it through the existing interconnections in the south and in the north, which will be created by 2027. At the same time, it is also planned to put into operation the middle link from Iasi to Chisinau.
The feasibility study (feasibility study) of the project for laying an undersea cable to deliver electricity from Azerbaijan to Europe was planned to be completed by the end of 2023, and investments in it were planned for a period of up to four years. The European Commission considers this project important for the whole of Europe and has allocated €2.3 billion for it.
Let us recall that at the Three Seas Initiative summit held recently in Vilnius, Moldova presented three projects for energy integration with neighboring countries. By 2025, it is planned to complete the construction of the high-voltage power transmission line Vulcanesti - Chisinau, which will connect the energy system of the Republic of Moldova with Romania. Also, in parallel, work is underway on the construction of the next three power transmission lines, including with Ukraine.
As bbabo.net reported, Moldova’s energy stability is currently ensured by MoldGRES, which generates about 90% of the electricity for the Right Bank of the Dniester. Now the price of electricity for Moldova is $66 per megawatt-hour, which is about 30% cheaper than the market price and half as much as on the Romanian exchange. However, the government of the Republic of Moldova has now taken out a multi-million dollar loan from the EBRD to build an interconnection with Romania.
bbabo.Net