State-owned energy trader Energocom of Moldova said on its Facebook page that Romanian hydroelectric business Hidroelectrica will deliver electricity to Moldova under a deal providing 100MW supply for the first 11 days of December, followed by 20MW after that, Romania Insider reported.
According to the corporation, the amount of power purchased from Romanian suppliers under bilateral contracts would therefore exceed 5,000MWh per day and 5,800MWh over the weekend (OMV Petrom, CE Oltenia, and CET Craiova are additional suppliers).
Moldova needs about 13,000 MWh of power each day, but can only provide 20% of it from its own resources.
On a daily basis, Energocom acquired electricity from Romania’s day-ahead market. On some days, however, a portion of the demand is still not covered by commercial contracts and is instead provided by Romania under a special emergency deal, at a high cost. The agreed-upon deficit may reach a maximum of 75% of daily national consumption on some days.
As a result of Russian missile damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Moldova lost its power providers in November, and the separatist province of Transnistria declined to continue supplying due to inadequate gas shipments from Gazprom.
Beginning November 1, the Russian gas supplier Gazprom did reduce its delivery to Moldova by 40% of the volume it had agreed to.
Additionally, Moldova has been experiencing a string of power outages, as Russian air raids hit power grids in neighboring Ukraine.
