Interview with MOLDPRES // Moldova's energy minister says crises in energy sector, triggered by Russia, transformed into development opportunities

Energy Minister Dorin Junghietu has given an exclusive interview with the State News Agency MOLDPRES, in which he talked about the main challenges in the energy sector, as well as the priorities for the upcoming period. The minister addressed issues concerning gas and electricity prices, energy connections with Romania and preparations for the next heating season.

MOLDPRES: Mr. Minister, you took over the position of energy minister a few months ago during quite a complicated period. What are the most important challenges you have identified?

Dorin Junghietu: Indeed, the energy sector has gone through a string of crises caused by Russia, such as the cessation of gas deliveries starting back in 2021, followed by the ceasing of electricity deliveries from MGRES (Kuchurgan power station), alongside the bombing of Ukraine's critical infrastructure. All these have been managed with professionalism by my colleagues. And I think it wouldn't be an exaggeration to congratulate my colleagues from the ministry, the government, and the enterprises in the sector for how they managed these crises and turned them into development opportunities. Of course, we should also express our gratitude to our Western partners for the massive political, financial and expertise support provided.

Presently, the priorities are quite clear: supporting the pace of work on the Vulcanesti – Chisinau Independence Line, launching tenders for the Balti-Suceava Overhead Power Line and identifying financing for the OPL Straseni-Gutinas. Also, the launch of organized short-term electricity markets, further liberalization of the natural gas market, facilitation of energy efficiency projects, digitalization of the sector, etc.

MOLDPRES: In recent years, Moldova has made considerable progress in diversifying energy sources, eliminating dependency on a single supplier. What are the next concrete steps that our country will take to strengthen energy security and diversify energy sources in the long term?

Dorin Junghietu: First and foremost, it should be mentioned that what enabled rapid progress in various fields of the energy sector is the emergency synchronization of Moldova's and Ukraine's electro-energy systems with the European Continental Energy System or ENTSO-E. Nothing has changed for consumers, but everything changed for the energy system. We are no longer a periphery of the Russia-Belarus system, but part of the European system and can import electric energy not only from Ukraine or MGRES, but also from EU member states, especially Romania. Having this possibility, we are no longer limited in choosing a supplier and are not susceptible to blackmail, and when MGRES ceased deliveries to the right bank, we managed to ensure consumption through imports from Romania, including partially at a capped price.

Ensuring this stability allowed us to focus on long-term reforms.

At the same time, to ensure delivery security, the National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE) designated Energocom as the universal natural gas supplier, taking over the public service obligation from Moldovagaz. Should the company fail to meet the legal requirements regarding the separation of supply, transport, and natural gas distribution activities by July 31, it risks losing its license. Even in this case, consumers will not feel any discomfort, receiving invoices with the logo of the 100% state-owned company Energocom instead of Moldovagaz, where the state has only a partial stake.

Thus, unnecessary intermediaries like Moldovagaz, which until January 2025 received gas from Gazprom for the Transnistrian region and was therefore retained in the supply chain, will be eliminated. If it no longer receives this gas and other international companies refuse to have commercial relations with a Gazprom subsidiary, leading even to Energocom handling foreign gas markets acquisitions for Moldovagaz being done by Energocom, then why shouldn't Energocom do it directly now. It's worth noting that, since December 2022, on the right bank of the Dniester, we have no longer been consuming gas from Gazprom. And Moldovagaz cannot make external gas acquisitions, Energocom manages this duty. Moldovagaz has turned into an intermediary.

To ensure sufficient working capital for gas purchases, we provide Energocom with a 400 million euros credit from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) with state guarantees. These are cheap resources, offering rates approximately half of what commercial banks in Moldova provide, amounts significantly larger than the ones which can be provided by local banks, and Energocom has proved a good reputation and capacity for managing such processes. Necessary gas and electricity will be procured for consumers from these funds and other resources.

Additionally, Energocom has signed or is negotiating new bilateral contracts, such as with OMV Petrom to purchase extracted gas from the Black Sea in the Neptun Deep perimeter or with Nuclearelectrica, in order to participate in constructing new atomic reactors at Cernavoda.

At the same time, the Plan of Measures for Strengthening the Energy Independence of Moldova has been approved, which serves as the legal basis for implementing the objective of completely eliminating dependency on energy resources from the Russian Federation in the electro-energy sector and the natural gas and petroleum products sectors.

The plan outlines 23 actions regarding the timely implementation of significant infrastructure projects, increasing local electrical energy generation capacity, including from renewable sources, rationalizing energy resource consumption, achieving natural gas and petroleum stockpiles, enhancing the flexibility of the electro-energetic system, and coupling and integrating energy markets with those of the European Union by 2030.

As for infrastructure, we focus on completing the Vulcanesti-Chisinau Energy Independence Line in time and launching tenders for the Balti-Suceava line. For the Straseni-Gutinas line, we are at the stage of establishing the line route and the border crossing point. The next step will initiate the administrative process for declaring the utility of public and national interest for the construction works to be carried out.

In the natural gas sector, the gradual liberalization of the market is expected. By April 1, 2026, at the latest, the public service obligation will no longer apply to large non-domestic consumers. Additionally, we rely on operationalizing a unified natural gas transportation tariff along the Vertical Corridor, facilitating gas acquisition and storage in Ukraine's underground deposits.

In the electrical sector, organized short-term electricity markets – the Day-Ahead Market and the Intraday Market are expected to be launched, which will be coupled with the unified European market in 2027, just before becoming an EU member state.

I will briefly mention the importance of the energy sector's digitization, enabling the implementation of differentiated tariffs for consumers and better consumption dispatching.

MOLDPRES: Among the above-listed priorities, there is also the development of interconnections with Romania on both gas and electric energy sides, being decisive for consolidating our country's energy independence. What other significant projects define the current collaboration between the two states and at what stage are they?

Dorin Junghietu: To ensure energy supply security, besides the electric interconnections, which we have discussed, developing the natural gas transportation system is also important. In November 2023, the Vestmoldtransgaz Ltd company announced investment plans of around 300 million euros.

For the current year, the initiation of two projects is planned, particularly extending the Iasi-Ungheni-Chișinău interconnector by constructing a Ring pipeline for the Chisinau municipality and creating the natural gas transportation network on the Prut River-Ungheni Gas Measurement-Todiresti Gas Measurement Point route, aiming to strengthen interconnection with Romania's natural gas transportation system.

MOLDPRES: Energocom procured the first natural gas volumes for the 2025-2026 gas year. The purchase price has not been announced, as it is commercial information. Under what conditions could gas acquisitions for the next cold season affect the gas prices paid by end consumers?

Dorin Junghietu: The prerogative to develop and approve methodologies for calculating and applying tariffs and regulated prices for natural gas transport, distribution and supply services and approve regulated tariffs and prices belongs to the National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE). Regulated prices for natural gas supply to end consumers are determined according to ANRE's Methodology and include the following basic components:

• Weighted average annual purchase price of natural gas from external suppliers;

• Cost of natural gas transport service;

• Cost of natural gas distribution service;

• Suppliers' regulated expenses related to natural gas supply service;

• Suppliers' regulated profitability;

• Positive/negative financial deviations.

The final price of natural gas for household consumers is closely related to the weighted average purchase price achieved for the cold season. Energocom has already conducted over 20 bidding rounds and purchased over 150 million cubic meters of gas. Purchases are made based on a strategy approved by the company’s board, with a cap price that considers the tariff for end consumers, approved by ANRE.

The bidding rounds are overseen by representatives of legal entities and civil society representatives, who have been critical and vocal enough so far, so that the society is confident that processes are being carried out correctly. If Energocom were to make prices public now, they could influence the price of the offers received in future tenders, ultimately affecting consumers. As has been the case until now, Energocom will publish the necessary information after the acquisitions have been completed.

MOLDPRES. The government recently ruled to increase the security stock volumes of natural gas to 50 million cubic meters, equivalent to 10 days of consumption. What are the current gas volumes in stocks and where does our country store the purchased gas?

Dorin Junghietu: Presently, the state company Energocom is responsible for creating and maintaining natural gas security stocks covering 10 days of average consumption, according to last year's statistics. Presently, the security stocks amount to 47.1 million cubic meters of natural gas, stored in neighboring countries, Romania and Ukraine.

Given that consumption varies from year to year, so we adjusted the reserve volume to the 10-day average consumption. This refers to supplementing security stocks to 50 million cubic meters. Therefore, the company has to cover the difference of 2.9 million cubic meters by October 1, 2025.

At the same time, the amendments to the Natural Gas Law promoted by the Ministry of Energy stipulate that commercial stocks must be carried out by all market players in proportion to their market share, including the company to be designated as a supplier for the Transnistrian region.

MOLDPRES: You've mentioned above that Energocom has been designated as the universal natural gas supplier, and as of August 1, will supply natural gas to over 800,000 consumers of Moldova. But can you explain what changes this brings for end consumers and the gas supply process in our country?

Dorin Junghietu: On May 23, 2025, ANRE designated the stock company Energocom as the natural gas supplier with public service obligations for three years.

The decision comes in the context where the Moldovagaz stock company may no longer be able to fulfill public service obligations after July 31, 2025, due to non-compliance with the legal requirement to separate supply, transport and distribution activities. In this case, the Energocom stock company will ensure the continuity of natural gas supply to over 800,000 household consumers.

These features will contribute to improving the natural gas supply process for consumers of Moldova, ensuring a framework based on fair and transparent procedures. I reiterate, nothing changes for consumers.

MOLDPRES: As for electricity, we know that, starting from January 1, 2025, the right bank of the Dniester has longer been receiving electricity from the Kuchurgan Power Plant after the Russian Gazprom stopped natural gas deliveries to Moldova. Thus, consumption has been covered from internal sources and imports. How will the electricity demand continue to be ensured in Moldova, and how might the deliveries affect the final price paid by citizens?

Dorin Junghietu: As mentioned before, regulated prices for supplying electricity to end consumers are calculated by ANRE following the Methodology for calculating, approving and applying regulated electricity supply prices by the last-resort and universal service suppliers. For this reason, I will not comment on prices.

As for consumption coverage, since January 1, this has been ensured by the cogeneration power plants in Chisinau and Balti, renewable sources, imports based on bilateral contracts with suppliers and producers from Romania and Ukraine, as well as purchases made on the SA OPCOM electricity exchange.

Also, the consumption need will predominantly be covered from the same sources, with a significant increase expected in the share of locally produced renewable electricity, especially during the summer season.

MOLDPRES: In last April, Moldova reached a new record in green energy production, with a 36% share of total consumption. In light of increasing production and the need for balancing the energy system, are authorities preparing solutions for electricity storage?

Dorin Junghietu: Indeed, in recent years, we have experienced a record increase in installed capacities for renewable energy generation. In April, we surpassed 665 MW, with photovoltaic power stations around 449 MW and wind farms around 192 MW. This progress results from the policies and legislation adopted by the authorities, facilitating grid connection procedures, raising capacity quotas for those wishing to invest in renewable energy, stimulating the creation of new jobs, and attracting private investments into the national economy.

Given the constant monthly increase in installed renewable energy source capacities, the balancing aspect in the electro-energy system is of vital importance and considered a priority. Why? Because renewables are intermittent and weather-dependent. If there isn't enough sun or wind as forecasted, such quantities need to be compensated for elsewhere.

Here is to remind you that we are at the stage of tendering for the construction of internal combustion engine power plants that run on natural gas with technologies that can operate in summer, unlike the Soviet ones at Termoelectrica. Thus, we will have additional balancing capacities, but this process will take a few years.

Meanwhile, we've developed new electricity law, introducing new economic activities, including energy storage, aggregation, trading and citizen energy communities.

Moreover, to integrate increased renewable energy capacities, we're preparing to launch a new tender for giving the status of large eligible producer, with mandatory storage component, targeting approximately 177 MW. This data is provisional and will be finalized following appropriate modeling.

Additionally, the transport system operator, Moldelectrica state enterprise, is preparing to launch, by September 2025, a tender for balancing and system services, which will also include electricity storage solutions. Moldelectrica's data indicates reserve capacity needs of about 240 MW.

Certainly, there's also the USAID-initiated project for building 75 MW energy storage batteries, which was canceled. We're seeking alternative financing for this. However, this technology has become much cheaper recently, halving in price within a year. For this reason, I believe it will become much more accessible for state companies and the private sector.

MOLDPRES: What actions are the authorities taking in preparing for the next heating season?

Dorin Junghietu: For preparing for the heating season, essential actions in the energy sector include ensuring natural gas stocks, diversifying supply sources, consolidating energy security in electricity and promoting energy efficiency and renewable sources.

Just like previous years, the government is planning to develop an Action Plan for preparing for the 2025-2026 heating season, anticipated for public consultation in June.

Furthermore, regarding the electro-energy sector, discussions continue with ENTSO-E for increasing the Net Transfer Capacity (NTC) for import from Romania to Moldova and continuing to apply the mechanism for reallocating unused NTC between Ukraine and EU member countries for utilization at the Romania-Moldova border.

Moreover, tests were conducted on the island mode functioning with the Romanian energy system on the 110kV overhead lines Husi-Cioara, Tutora-Ungheni, Falciu-Gotesti. This will allow supplying the consumers from a specific geographic area directly from the Romanian system through these lines, if the allocated NTC on the Isaccea-Vulcanesti line isn't sufficient for covering consumption.

Thank you for the interview, Mr. Minister Dorin Junghietu.

Reporter: Natalia Sandu