Four consortia shared the awards: Lumina Noastră, which received four of the seven projects; Navitas Energy; Summa FIBA Enerji; and the partnership between Leafwind Energy SRL and Oromaxmontaj SRL. Together, they received support to build new wind power capacity totaling 170 MW, this time combined with energy storage systems.
The winning companies have yet to be officially approved by a government decision. As in the first auction, this public document identifies the companies receiving support but not their ultimate beneficial owners. Auction participants are required to disclose their names, but these names are not published in the auction results. And, in at least one company from the first round, ownership changed after it was granted feed-in tariffs.
Competition exceeded the available capacity. Sixteen bidders proposed wind power projects with a total capacity of nearly 424 MW and energy storage systems with a capacity of 305 MWh—roughly two and a half times more than was offered in the tender.
As part of this auction, Moldova tied state support to a commitment to build energy storage systems: the winners must install BESS next to their new power plants.
The Energy Community stated in an official announcement that Moldova became the first of its member countries to hold a joint auction for renewable energy sources and storage systems.
A vital necessity for the country
The auctions are taking place in one of the region’s most vulnerable energy systems. In January 2025, Moldova lost its primary source of electricity. The Kuchurgan Power Plant in Transnistria, which supplied 70–80% of the electricity consumed on the right bank of the Dniester, was shut down after Russian gas supplies were cut off.
Moldova increasingly relied on imports from Romania, but at that time only 315 MW of cross-border capacity was guaranteed, while a major domestic power line also ran through Transnistria.
The system’s vulnerability was once again exposed on January 31, 2026, when a failure in the Ukrainian power grid left most of Moldova without electricity for several hours. In March, the government declared a two-month state of emergency in the energy sector.
Nevertheless, Moldova is currently implementing one of the fastest energy market reforms in Europe. Installed capacity from renewable energy sources has increased from just over 70 MW in 2020 to more than 1 GW by 2026. The country is also among the leaders in the Energy Community in terms of implementing EU energy regulations.
A new 157-km high-voltage line between Vulcănești and Chișinău, designed to provide a more direct connection between Moldova and Romania, bypassing Transnistria—the construction of which has been plagued by constant delays— was technically completed in December 2025 and passed its first tests in January. However, it has not yet been put into operation. Energy Minister Dorin Jungheteu stated that commercial operation is expected by the end of 2026.
One consortium secured 72% of the capacity
One of the winners of the second round of the tender, Lumina Noastră, had previously secured just over 72% of the capacity in the first round.
Moldova’s first large-scale renewable energy auction allocated 165 MW: 60 MW of solar and 105 MW of wind energy. In the solar energy segment, a consortium named Lumina Noastră secured 54.3 MW across five farms, while KKK Invest secured 5.7 MW.
In the wind energy segment, a consortium with the same name—comprising Lumina Noastră SRL, AN Energy Green SRL, and GS Blue Energy SRL—was awarded 65 MW across two projects. Navitas Energy, a subsidiary of Premier Energy, was awarded 12.5 MW, while Windnova, part of the international Qair Group, was awarded 27.5 MW.
Together, the two Lumina Noastră consortia—groups of companies with partially overlapping participants bidding under a single name— — were awarded 119.3 out of 165 MW, which accounts for just over 72% of the capacity available in the first auction.
They were granted the right to build a solar or wind power plant and a 15-year contract with Energocom, under which the state-owned company commits to purchasing their electricity at a predetermined price. Bids for solar power plants were approved at a price of approximately 59 euros per MWh, while those for wind power plants were approved at approximately 67 euros per MWh. The agreements are valid for up to 15 years and include protection against the devaluation of the Moldovan leu against the U.S. dollar, which reduces some of the currency risk for investors.
Some power plants owned by companies belonging to the winning Lumina Noastră consortium were already operational at the time of the auction. At that time, the consortium members had 18.3 MW of solar capacity and 7.5 MW of wind capacity in operation, while two larger plants—Rădeni (50 MW) and Neguren (40 MW)—were under construction.
In other words, the fixed tariff, guaranteed for 15 years, applied not only to future projects but also to power plants that had already been built. The ministry acknowledges this in its own statement, describing the 54.3 MW owned by the consortium as “existing and new projects.”
Zinaida Plămădeala, a spokesperson for Lumina Noastră, stated in an email to the IntelliNews portal that the power plants of some member companies had been built approximately one year prior to the auction—well within the permissible threshold. She noted that there is no ambiguity on this issue.
Carolina Novac, State Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, stated in a written response that the first auction was conducted in accordance with the 2016 Renewable Energy Act, which at that time allowed investors to submit bids, who already owned generating capacity, as well as those who planned to build it. The power plants involved had been in operation for less than a year by the deadline, and the contracts were accordingly shortened from 15 years to the duration of their operation.
Novak noted that this had been stipulated in the tender documentation from the very beginning. After the first auction, the rules were changed, and power plants already in operation are no longer eligible to participate in future tenders.
The consortium asserts that this structure was chosen deliberately: “The founding companies share professional ties and prior experience in joint projects; forming a consortium within a transparent contractual framework was the most appropriate structure for joint participation,” Plămădale asserts.
Navitas Energy, one of the other winners of the first round, does not consider the concentration of projects within a single group to be evidence of restricted competition. In response to a question from IntelliNews, administrator Mikhail Gidey stated that the result reflects competition conducted in accordance with established rules and should not, in and of itself, be viewed as evidence of barriers to market entry.
At the same time, Navitas stated that publishing data on the ultimate beneficial owners of all winners, as well as conducting a more thorough review of the bidders’ compliance history, could increase transparency and trust in the auction process, provided that the requirements are proportionate and applied equally.
Change of Ownership
The largest shareholder of Lumina Noastră SRL is Eximiusfruct, which holds 21.05% of the shares. Its owner is Viorel Revenco, an agribusinessman and founder of the Chisinau wholesale agricultural market.
In the solar energy sector, the Lumina Noastră consortium consists of Revenco Logistic SRL, Lumina Noastră SRL, Eximiusfruct SRL, Niko Fruit SRL, Solotrans-Agro SRL, and GS Blue Electric SRL. Four of these six companies are directly linked to agribusiness, and at least three are traceable to Viorel Revenco. Revenco owns 78% of Solotrans-Agro’s shares.
GS Blue Energy—one of the three members of the winning wind energy consortium—was established on October 4, 2024, as a result of the reorganization of GS Blue Electric, according to a Mold-Street investigation. The company received assets worth 25.8 million lei with a registered capital of 2 lei. The Ministry of Energy stated that GS Blue Energy will not build power plants on its own but is participating as one of the investors. It also noted that the auction terms were agreed upon with international consultants and reviewed by the Energy Community Secretariat.
However, after winning the auction, GS Blue Energy’s ownership structure changed. In the state property registry dated August 19, 2025—less than two weeks after the government approved the auction results—Gheorghe Stratan is still listed as the sole owner. As of October 27, the registry lists five corporate co-owners: USBA SRL (40%), Eximiusfruct SRL (30%), and GS Powersystem, Airvolt, and Vieco Service Energy (10% each).
In other words, Eximiusfruct, owned by Viorel Revenco, acquired a stake in the company founded by Stratan—and the ownership structure of one of the auction winners changed before its power plants were commissioned.
Sergiu Tofilat, a financial and energy policy analyst at WatchDog.MD and a former energy advisor to the President of Moldova, argues that such a review loses its meaning if a change in ownership can occur after the contract is awarded: “If the tender documentation requires participants to undergo a review by a commission that analyzes foreign investments in strategic sectors, then if a company passes the review but subsequently changes ownership, what is the point of this review? If you want to change ownership—go through this review again. We want to ensure that no dirty money and no oligarchs from Russia can pose a threat to our security”, Tofilat said in an interview.
When asked about the ultimate beneficial owners of the consortium and its member companies, Lumina Noastră spokesperson Zinaida Plămădeala did not name any specific individuals. According to her, the ownership structure is “fully disclosed and can be verified through public records,” and she asserted that conclusions should be based on verified documentation rather than on registration dates or corporate structures considered in isolation.
Current public data from InfoBiz shows a fragmented ownership structure at Lumina Noastră SRL: it lists 12 shareholders, none of whom owns more than 25% of the company.
However, according to Moldovan Law No. 308/2017, ownership of more than 25% is only one of the criteria for identifying a beneficial owner. The law also provides for indirect ownership through several companies controlled by the same individual, as well as control exercised by other means.
Only if, after exhausting all possible means, the natural person cannot be identified may the company’s administrator be considered the beneficial owner. It is not possible to apply this criterion based solely on public records. The registry lists the names of the company’s shareholders, not the individuals behind them.
What Documents Can—and Cannot—Reveal
Another winner was KKK Invest, which was granted the right to build a 5.7-MW solar power plant. The minutes of the March 3, 2025, meeting show that the Council for the Review of Investments of Significance to National Security expressed concern regarding one of the beneficial owners of Energy Fabrik, who owns 50% of the shares in KKK Invest.
The Council required KKK Invest to provide, within ten business days, information confirming that this individual is not under criminal investigation for a serious or particularly serious crime.
After reviewing the information submitted by KKK Invest, including a memorandum from the Ministry of the Interior, the Council concluded on March 24 that the situation involving one of the founders of Energy Fabrik did not meet the criteria set forth in Article 8 of the law governing investments of significance to national security. It conditionally approved the investment, requiring Victor Bunescu, the founder of Energy Fabrik, to remove himself from the corporate chain within 20 days.
In April 2025, after reviewing additional documents submitted by the company, the council raised no objections and approved KKK Invest’s investment; compliance with the exclusion requirement was confirmed by the council’s secretariat. In June 2025, the commission named KKK Invest among the auction winners, and in August, the government approved the results.
During the selection phase, as the case of GS Blue Energy demonstrates, the compliance review was conducted with respect to the auction participant itself—a company established just a few months before the auction as part of the reorganization of GS Blue Electric. After the company was named among the winners, its ownership changed. This suggests that the compliance check focused primarily on the auction participant itself, rather than on the individuals or broader corporate interests behind it.
Moldova also faces difficulties in ensuring compliance with existing regulations. Under a 2025 law aimed at combating speculative “ghost projects”, the energy regulator ANRE imposed fines on nine companies, whose permits covered more than 400 MW of grid capacity—however, eight of the nine are challenging these decisions in court, and none of the fines have been collected. Moldovan media also reported, citing NARE, that the rules do not take into account the track record of affiliated companies.
When asked who currently benefits from the contract with KKK Invest, Novac did not name anyone—only “economic operators specified in the official government decree approving the auction results”, a document that lists the companies.
Bidders disclose their beneficial owners to the tender commission, but that is where it ends: “The Ministry has no legal authority to publish information beyond the requirements of Government Decree No. 690/2018.”
Thus, Moldova has committed to purchasing electricity from private companies for 15 years—and, in at least one of these companies, the owners changed after the guaranteed tariffs were granted.
The Next Auction Raises the Stakes
The second auction is also taking place at a time when Moldova is beginning to face yet another consequence of its rapid expansion of renewable energy: whether the power grid will be able to absorb all the electricity being generated.
“We have too much installed renewable energy capacity, and there is a surplus of generation during the day”, Tofilat said. “Some producers are already disconnecting from the grid”.
He notes that Moldova’s installed renewable energy capacity is already sufficient to cover the country’s consumption during peak hours—however, only 44% of that capacity receives support through the subsidy mechanism and is compensated when disconnected. According to him, the storage capacity included in the auction will still be insufficient to absorb excess daytime generation.
“But 56% of the installed capacity is on the open market, and it is not protected in the event of a blackout. No compensation is paid. And now they are struggling to repay their loans. We’re talking about nearly 600 MW of capacity that is on the verge of bankruptcy”, he said.
According to Sergiu Tofilata, adding another 170 MW of wind power risks exacerbating the problem: producers operating during the day, when electricity consumption is limited, will have to receive compensation for undelivered electricity, and these costs will ultimately be passed on to consumers through rates.
Until now, the EU has helped finance Moldova’s energy reforms and shape the rules underpinning them. In 2025, Moldova received more than 300 million euros from Brussels.
Payments under the Growth Plan are tied to reforms. Disclosure of information about the owners of companies receiving state support could become one of the conditions. In June, the EU opened the first negotiation cluster on Moldova’s accession to the EU. For Brussels, the transparency of energy auctions is no longer an internal matter for Moldova but has become an indicator of the quality of reforms in the candidate country.
