Romania will provide from Thursday, at a capped price, electricity to neighboring Moldova, which suffers from supply difficulties related to the war in Ukraine, the government announced.
The national electricity company, Hidroelectrica, has signed a contract for the delivery of 100 megawatts with the Moldovan company Energom, said the Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu on Facebook.
The agreed tariff is 450 Romanian lei (91 euros) per megawatt hour, well below market prices.
Romania had previously amended its legislation to allow the export of electricity to Moldova, given the “exceptional situation caused by the conflict”.
The Republic of Moldova, a small country of 2.6 million people located between Romania and Ukraine, usually imports energy from Ukraine.
But recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure have forced Kiev to halt deliveries. Romanian electricity will therefore make up for this loss.
“This will cover 30% of our needs, which will no longer be provided by Ukraine” as of this Friday, Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu wrote on Facebook. However, “energy can only be bought” if Bucharest has enough for its own use.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu welcomed the aid on the same social network. “We must make this effort together (…) for a free future. Together we will come out of this winter stronger”.
Since the beginning of October, Moldova has also had to cope with a 30% drop in imports from the Russian giant Gazprom, on which the country is very dependent.
Faced with this precarious situation, the authorities reiterated on Thursday their call to reduce energy consumption during peak hours.
