The European Bank for Recovery and Development (EBRD) announced on Wednesday (13 March) that it is lending 30.8 million euros to Moldovan state-owned power company Moldelectrica to link Moldova’s network to Romania by constructing a high-voltage transmission line between both countries.
Moldelectrica, which is implementing the EU’s Third Energy Package, is also expected to use the loan to rehabilitate its internal electricity transmission network and build a 400 kV (kilovolt) substation in Bălți (southern Romania).
The Balti-Suceava project, costing a total of 77 million euros, is co-funded by the European Investment Bank (EIB), which is also lending 30.8 million euros. The EU’s Neighbourhood Investment Platform (NIP) will provide a 15.4 million-euro grant.
More than 80 per cent of electricity consumed domestically in Moldova came historically from the unrecognised breakaway region of Transnistria, along with imports from Ukraine via a grid connecting several former Soviet republics. Since 2015, Moldova has been working to diversify sources through closer links with Romania and has one interconnection line to Romania (the Vulcanesti-Issaccea line).
However, Russia’s full-scale war on neighbouring Ukraine in 2022 interrupted this process, which saw both Moldova and Ukraine synchronise with the European grid (ENTSO-E). The Balti-Suceava line will further strengthen integration with ENTSO-E.
A key element of the project is that Moldova has committed to continue implementing the Power Sector Reform Action Plan, agreed in close collaboration between the EBRD, EU, EIB, World Bank, Energy Community Secretariat and Moldova’s government. This introduces a comprehensive reform package to implement the EU Third Energy Package in Moldova’s electricity market, the EBRD noted in a press release.