Government approves the regulation on tenders for the construction of wind and photovoltaic parks with a capacity of 165 MW.
In particular, at its meeting, the government approved amendments to the regulation on holding tenders for awarding the status of eligible producer. This is related to the first tenders for the installation of wind and photovoltaic power plants with a capacity of 165 MW. According to the Ministry of Energy, this was another step towards achieving the goals of decarbonizing the economy. The regulations simplify and debureaucratize the requirements for participation, as well as the procedure for organizing and conducting tenders. Their winners will receive a guaranteed fixed price for the electricity produced for 15 years. The price offered after the auction is expected to be lower than the maximum price set by the National Energy Regulatory Agency, which is 1.5 lei/kWh for wind power and 1.67 lei/kWh for solar power. "Through this auction, we estimate an investment of approximately 190 million euros until 2025 for the construction of 105 MW wind farms and 60 MW photovoltaic plants. Once the auctioned power plants are operational, the share of electricity from renewable energy sources will increase from 10% (at the end of 2023) to 16.6%. This will contribute to the achievement of the national commitment to bring the share of renewable sources in final consumption to 30% by 2030," said State Secretary of the Ministry of Energy Andrei Gritco. The updated document provides for the inclusion in the tender commission of a civil society representative, chosen through a transparent procedure; the possibility for investors to send requests and proposals in electronic format to a designated address; the possibility for non-resident foreign investors to participate in the auction; the reduction of the number of necessary authorization documents; the possibility to participate in the auction even in the absence of authorization documents, provided that the investor accepts the roadmap confirming the receipt of the necessary documents; and the inclusion in the tender commission of a representative of the civil society. It is worth mentioning that Moldova applies three mechanisms of renewable energy support - net billing for small capacities, which covers own consumption, fixed tariff for capacities up to 1 MW and fixed price awarded on the basis of auctions. There is also the possibility to produce and sell renewable electricity on the free market. In January 2024, the installed capacity of power plants producing energy from renewable energy sources amounted to about 343 MW, doubling compared to January 2023.As noted by the Ministry of Energy, in order to promote the development of renewable electricity based on a detailed system study, the authorities have achieved a 6-fold increase (from 20 MW to 120 MW) in capacity quotas for photovoltaic solar installations on agricultural land; the capacity limit for the net metering mechanism has been increased 3 times (from 5% to 15%), it has been simplified the procedure for technological connection (reduction of time from 30 days to 10 days) of renewable energy production facilities installed at household consumers. // 24.04.2024 - InfoMarket.
