OPCOM comes to the Republic of Moldova. Government prepares liberalisation and transparency of electricity market
The Romanian operator OPCOM will come to the Republic of Moldova this year. However, there will be a transition period during which the National Agency for Energy Regulation will calculate prices on the wholesale market. The amendments are in public debate and were published today.
The energy market will be divided into two tiers, for the day-ahead and the day-ahead. The new law will create a transparent wholesale market where prices will be determined by supply and demand. Normally, renewable generation cannot be accurately forecast because it depends on weather conditions.
"That was also the logic of bringing an existing, mature market operator to the Republic of Moldova, who has more than 20 years of experience of working and organising different markets. So that we don't go through this whole process of learning from scratch. The decision has already been taken at OPCOM, this year they are opening a branch in the Republic of Moldova, after which, from next year, we will most likely have the first transactions on the electricity exchange in the Republic of Moldova", explains Victor Parlicov, Minister of Energy.
For now, there are three methods of subsidising renewable generation, regardless of capacity.
"The government's proposal is to enter the net metering mechanism from 1 January 2024. When we generate excess energy that we're not going to consume, we're going to sell it to the grid at the producer's price," said Marcela Lefter of the American Chamber of Commerce.
Fântânele-Cogealac in Dobrogea is the largest onshore wind farm in Europe, covering almost three hectares, and ten years ago, when it went commercial, it also had the largest capacity, almost 600 megawatts, comparable to a reactor at Cernavodă and a third of Moldova's consumption. The investment exceeded €1 billion.
"We are at a point where we believe we have learned some lessons that we are happy to share, the first of the lessons would be related to the need for the state through various levers to ensure a minimum threshold of profitability for investors. There are European models that, in one form or another, the decision-makers will have to analyze, to look at the case of Romania, which used the support scheme through green certificates, and try to adapt something to the local specifics", points out manager Liviu Gavrilă.
In Romania, renewable energy production has been subsidised through the green certificate scheme. The state issued these certificates to the producing companies and imposed a renewable energy supply quota on the final supplier.
