This opinion was expressed by IDIS Viitorul economist Veaceslav Ionitsa.
Official data show that in the third quarter of 2025, Moldova produced 386 million kWh of renewable electricity – an absolute record for one quarter. At the same time, annual production exceeded the 1 billion kWh threshold for the first time. And the projected production for the whole year 2025 is about 1.2 billion kWh.
To understand the scale: that’s 10 times what we produced in 2020; more than 40 times what we produced 10 years ago. In 2015, 99% of the electricity we consumed was imported either directly or in the form of imported gas for local production.
“I am not exaggerating when I talk about rapid transformation: I don’t know of any other country in Europe with such a degree of energy dependency that could make such a change in just 2-3 years. Other countries took 10-15 years for similar processes,” states Veaceslav Ionitsa.
Photovoltaics dominate in the RES structure
In 2025, the structure of renewable energy was as follows: 64% was photovoltaic power, about 29% wind power, 6% hydropower, and about 1-1.5% biogas.
While hydropower used to account for almost 100% of what was meant by “renewable energy”, today its role is secondary. The real driver of transformation is private investment in solar and wind power plants, stimulated by the recent crises and volatile energy prices.
The economic outcome is clear and measurable. In 2025, local renewable energy sources will cover approximately 26% of Moldova’s total electricity consumption. In other words, more than a quarter of the energy consumed no longer depends on imports, geopolitics or gas prices.
Wind energy contributes more in winter and solar energy in summer. We already have a functional structure of energy supply.
For a country that 10 years ago imported almost everything, this is a dramatic change.
The new problem is storage
On some summer days, for a few hours, renewable energy production covered 100% of domestic consumption. In 2026, it is very likely that we will have entire hours during which production will exceed consumption by 30-40%.
And there is a fundamental economic problem here: energy is very cheap during the daytime when solar activity is at its peak, while in the evening it is 4 times more expensive. And there were days when the price difference was 20-30 times (for example: 3 euros/MWh during the day versus 180 euros/MWh at night).
Without storage capacity, we risk selling energy cheaply during the day and buying it (abroad) expensively at night. In essence, we lose the added value that we ourselves have created.
The government has taken the right first strategic step. It ensured the creation of an electricity exchange and the transformation of energy from a strictly regulated utility service into a tradable commodity.
Energy can now be sold, bought, stored and delivered on a price and time basis.
Without an exchange, storage makes no economic sense. With an exchange, storage becomes a business. Therefore, the key challenge for 2026 is no longer production, but storage.
Storage allows you to buy cheap energy during the day and sell expensive energy at night, stabilizes the system, increases energy security, and creates new business.
Importantly, a small energy storage business can be started with equity capital of about 250,000 euros, the rest can be raised through loans. This is an area accessible not only to the big players, but also to small and medium-sized enterprises, says the economic analyst.
The state does not need to invent anything. It should introduce 10-year tax breaks, accelerated VAT refunds, corporate tax reductions and apply existing schemes adapted for storage. Direct subsidies are not necessary, but predictability and well-thought-out incentives are more important, Viacheslav Ionitsa recommends.
