Under the new rules, investors wishing to connect renewable energy power plants with a capacity of more than 200 kW to the grid must now provide a financial guarantee.
This measure was necessary because many of the previously issued connection permits were requested for speculative purposes or went unused, thus blocking access to the grid for genuine investors. The new system aims to ensure that permits are only issued to investors with serious intentions.
The financial guarantee will only be reimbursed if the power plant specified in the permit is actually built and commissioned on time. If this does not happen on time, the grid operator retains the guarantee and uses the funds to modernize the power grid.
Previously, permit holders who did not use their license on time were subject to a fine of 50-70% of the financial guarantee, which was transferred to the state budget. As of June 30, the new regulation sets a fixed fine of 1,000 lei per kilowatt, which is now retained by the network operator for development.
There are exceptions to this rule.
Permit holders are exempted from paying the financial guarantee if they represent an energy community or have obtained the right to participate in an open tender, for example, for the construction of a solar power plant up to 1 MW or a wind farm up to 4 MW, and have become holders of a fixed tariff for electricity supply for 15 years.
Companies that obtained permits prior to the new regulation were given a transition period until June 30, 2025. Those who voluntarily relinquished their permits during this time are exempt from the penalty. As a result, 30 grid connection permits with a total capacity of more than 109 MW have been returned so far. This includes 2 licenses (for 64.09 MW) returned to Moldelectrica, 16 permits (for 36.6 MW) relinquished by Premier Energy Distribution and 12 applications (for 8.55 MW) withdrawn by SA RED Nord.
By February 2024, Moldova’s transmission system operator (Moldelectrica) has issued grid connection permits for about 1,500 MW of new capacity, mainly for renewable energy projects. However, less than 10% of these are realized annually. Premier Energy Distribution has issued connection permits for a total of 329 MW, and Rețele Electrice de Distribuție Nord for 96.4 MW.
Over the past five years, solar and wind power generation capacity in Moldova has increased eightfold, reaching 689 MW by May 2025. A tender for the construction of large solar and wind power plants with a total capacity of 165 MW was recently finalized. Another tender is scheduled for the fall, offering up to 173 MW of wind capacity. This time it is supplemented by a requirement for storage solutions with a minimum capacity of 22 MW.
By 2030, the country aims to meet 30% of its electricity consumption from renewable sources.
