Moldova’s Green Turn: How Crisis Sparked a Renewable Energy Revolution

Chisinau, Republic of Moldova –  In the shadow of Russia’s war in Ukraine and multiple energy crises Moldova has turned to renewable energy to build a future that is more secure and more affordable. The effort is being led by a collection of public and private investments – big and small – and is getting ready to expand even further.

Prior to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moldova was ranked by the International Energy Agency (IEA) as among the least self sufficient countries in the world in terms of energy. The country imported nearly all of its natural gas from Russia, and gas provided to the Transnistrian region by Russia free of charge was used to generate about 75% of the country’s electricity. With the onset of the war, and Russia’s choice to spark multiple energy crises in Moldova as a tool of coercion, the country has had to make rapid changes.

In April 2025, an all-time record of 36% of the country’s total electricity consumption was provided by locally produced renewable energy. Right now, Moldova has more than 750 MW of installed renewables capacity – more than an 8x increase from 4 years ago. Of this, 529 MW is from photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, 212 MW is from wind energy and the rest is from biogas and hydroelectric. By far the fastest growing source of power generation in Moldova is PV panels.

The Complex Public-Private Mix Driving Investment

Since Moldova fully broke away from Russian supplied energy, consumer electricity prices have skyrocketed. This has led to a major push from the government to diversify energy sources and modernize the country’s energy market. In a situation where the country’s only major traditional power generation capability is two small scale Soviet-era thermoelectric plants, this has led to a major pivot towards renewables.

Carolina Novac, State Secretary of the newly created Ministry of Energy, explained that the government now has 3 priorities in the energy market – security, affordability and competition. Taken together these priorities mean Moldovan made energy, especially renewables. The Ministry recently approved the results of a series of tenders for the construction of new renewable energy installations, namely 105 MW of wind and 60 MW of solar.

According to Irina Apostol, Energy Manager at NGO Green City Lab in Chisinau, investments like these are attractive because the suppliers can benefit from 15 year fixed-rate supply contracts. But there are also options for smaller investors to get involved in Moldova’s energy transition. For “small producers” building photovoltaic plants up to 1 MW there is another program allowing for regulated fixed-rates for power production also on 15-year contracts. This program has limits though, equipment can’t be older than 36 months and there is a cap on the total capacity that can be licensed under this plan. The country’s existing power grid and regulatory framework mean that there are lots of new opportunities, but also lots of upgrades and reforms needed to build a modern, green energy system.

Energy Aggregators and Small Investors

Navitas Energy, a subsidiary of Moldova’s largest power company Premier Energy, is a major player in Moldova’s renewable energy market. The company operates on the unregulated market, buying and selling energy according to market prices without long term guaranteed contracts. They have constructed 5 photovoltaic parks of their own with a capacity of 18 MW, but also work with other small producers as an aggregator.

Caption: A new photovoltaic park built by Navitas in Budesti near Vadul lui Voda. PV parks have become a regular appearance in the Moldovan countryside set amidst vineyards and rolling fields.

“Navitas Energy SRL, acting as an aggregator together with the producers that own 121 renewable energy power generation plants, accumulates a total installed capacity of 180 MW.”  writes Navitas CEO Mihail Gidei

The small investors behind those 121 solar and wind power plants sell energy to Navitas which bundles this power and sells it forward – both to Moldovan customers and on the Romanian and Ukrainian markets. This allows small producers who might not be eligible for fixed contract government programs to invest and sell their energy to consumers. The average producer in Navitas’ network is relatively small scale, meaning that small investors that bring wind turbines from Germany or build PV parks can easily connect to the broader energy market even as Moldova works to build a national energy market of its own. 

Prosumers – Making Pies with Solar Power

Brutăria Bardar is a bakery located around 20 minutes outside Chisinau. It specializes in cakes, cookies, and especially frozen traditional Moldovan pies called “plăcinte”. The company has seen rapid growth in recent years thanks to improved access to the European market and a line of products that has found buyers across Europe in Romania, Germany, France, Ireland and elsewhere. A big part of their growth story was CEO Victor Nistorica’s decision to invest in solar panels in 2022. Using a combination of loans and support programs provided at the time by Moldova’s Organization for Entrepreneurship Development (ODA) he was able to install 110 kW of photovoltaic panels on the roof of his production facility.

Caption: Victor Nistorica, CEO of Brutăria Bardar, with his company’s solar panels. Investing in rooftop solar has helped drive down electricity costs for the bakery and support expansion and export.

Back in 2022 when they first installed the panels, the power produced was enough to cover around 70% of what was demanded by the host of industrial ovens, mixers, deep fryers, fridges and freezers required to produce their signature pies. After the company’s rapid expansion, the panels were only able to cover about a third of their 2024 needs. Victor Nistorica is actively looking for more roof space to expand his solar investments.

Brutăria Bardar is a “prosumer,” meaning both a producer and a consumer of electricity. According to Victor Nistorica the fact that he consumes around 90% of his own power is a benefit – for now. If he overproduces power he can sell it to the power company, but at a rate far less than it costs him to buy power back from them when the sun isn’t shining. If he expands his photovoltaic production, then he might choose to invest in battery storage to make sure he can consume as much of his own power as possible – but the return on investment (ROI) isn’t quite there with his current setup.

As a “prosumer” Brutăria Bardar is making the choices that the Ministry of Energy has sought to incentivize for small businesses and for personal households. Moldova’s energy grid is fragile and badly in need of modernization. If too many end users overinvest and sell energy into the network things will become unstable – a problem that has led to power failures in other countries. These infrastructure limits set up the next big challenge, and opportunity, in Moldova’s energy transition. Batteries and load balancing.

Batteries and a Modern Energy Market

The next big investment space in Moldova’s energy market is all around energy balancing. When the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing people still use power – and right now almost all of that power is imported. At a national level there are already major plans to invest in solutions for energy balancing and to meet peak energy needs.

According to Jose Luis Gomez Pascual, Country Manager for Premier Energy Moldova, batteries will be a major part of this effort. Navitas Energy is already preparing tenders in this area and large EU backed government tenders are expected to come this year. He sees a future where various solutions, including batteries, help solve the problems of peak consumption and balancing. Taken together, these solutions will allow for a much more robust Moldovan domestic energy system. But only after Moldova fully liberalized its energy market.

Batteries are expensive. Whether you are a bakery prosumer or a national power company the current ROI for private investment in batteries doesn’t quite add up. That’s because Moldova doesn’t have an hourly spot market allowing for buying and selling energy based on supply and demand. With such a mechanism, greater demand at night and on cloudy days would drive up prices and incentivize more investments in storage.

The Ministry of Energy is working on this problem now. They are in the process of setting up a National Energy Market Operator (OPEM – from the Romanian acronym) which will be responsible for “creating and operating a transparent, efficient and sustainable electricity market.” According to State Secretary Carolina Novac, OPEM should enter a testing phase in late 2025 and is planned to be operational in 2026. OPEM is a subsidiary of OPCOM, Romania’s experienced Energy and Natural Gas market operator.  Once this market is operational in Moldova, it is expected to unlock even more free-market investment into Moldova’s energy space.

The Ministry has announced that in October of this year they will launch a new tender for the purchase of additional renewable capacity and battery storage. Critically, this will involve large investments in batteries for load balancing and stabilizing the electric grid – something required for additional renewable investment, and to meet European interconnectivity standards. Storage investments like this will open up new scaling opportunities for the private sector and will contribute to Moldova’s energy security.

Looking Forward – A National March Towards Renewable Energy

Moldova’s renewable energy transition is being driven by security concerns and necessity in the face of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The country’s long neglected infrastructure and legal framework has resulted in a situation where lots needs to be done – and quickly. In addition to the programs and investments mentioned already, the government is planning massive investments in modernizing public and private infrastructure. Homes, apartment buildings and schools will be renovated with modern insulation and offered opportunities to install photovoltaic panels and heat pumps. This national program, called “Green House,” is supported by EU funding and majorly expanded this summer.

Irina Apostol of Green City Lab described other programs aimed at incentivizing more private investments in the prosumer space. Right now the UNDP is helping pilot the creation of “Renewable Energy Communities” – a new legal structure that allows prosumers to pool energy resources and investments and share in the resulting production. In the future, additional legislation is planned to further simplify this process for apartment buildings, allowing residents to collectively invest in rooftop solar panels. Innovations like these are one example of what is possible under a new regulatory “sandbox” law designed to pilot innovative energy investments. The Ministry of Energy hopes that this lighter regulatory framework will allow Moldova to become a testbed for new renewable energy technology.

Caption: Irina Apostol, Energy Manager at Green City Lab walks through the many programs already working and in development to encourage private investment into renewable energy sources.

Back in September 2023 energy expert Suriya Evans-Pritchard Jayanti wrote an op-ed for Time Magazine arguing that Moldova might become Europe’s “first truly green country.” In her piece she explained that the pressures of the war combined with Moldova’s lack of traditional energy infrastructure set the conditions for a rapid modernization and pivot to renewables. The idea is that compared to other European countries, the lack of legacy power plants becomes an advantage – “the counterintuitive luxury of being able to almost start from scratch.”

Now, more than 2 years later, the combination of government reforms, private investment and EU support are coming together to make this possible. The country’s currently installed solar capacity rivals or exceeds its regional neighbors as a percentage of national consumption. On September 19th, Moldova Business Week will feature the “Power Up Moldova” event dedicated to energy sector investment. It aims to bring together key stakeholders from the public and private sectors to discuss the country’s energy strategy and investment opportunities. With public sector focus, and powered by private investment, Moldova’s energy transition is gaining speed. While there is still a long way to go, it is becoming clear that renewable power will be the core of the country’s modern energy infrastructure.