Moldova faces challenges in improving energy laws - Energy Community

Following the adoption of the Electricity Law in May 2016, Moldova must speed up the adoption of new implementing legislation or the revision of the existing regulations to align with the new legal framework, the secretariat of the Vienna-based organisation said in its 2016/2017 annual implementation report published earlier this week.

However, the progress made in 2016 with the adoption of this law transposing the Third Energy Package is overshadowed by the initiation of the dispute by the largest and only private distribution system operator due to the amendments of the tariff methodology by the energy regulatory authority in Moldova, ANRE.

The creation of a common electricity market between Ukraine and Moldova would enable wholesale suppliers in Moldova to be given non-discriminatory access to Ukraine’s more competitive supply market as well as market-based access to capacities on interconnections for cross-border trade, according to the report.

Also, a decision on the most suitable electricity interconnections with Romania still needs to be taken. The future projects aim at increasing security of electricity supply in Moldova, reducing the dependence on very few sources of electricity supplies and providing increased competition for the benefit of the customers in Moldova.

Regarding gas, Moldova still has to rectify the non-compliances identified in the Law on Natural Gas, whether through amendments or, where possible, through secondary legislation. "To date, no tangible progress has been reached in implementing the Law," the report reads.

Preparation for the unbundling of transmission system operators in compliance with the Third Energy Package should start without delay so as to have properly unbundled operators already designated and certified by 1 January 2020. Moldova must implement legal and functional unbundling of VestMoldTransgaz, MoldovaTransGaz and ChisinauGaz.

In renewable energy, the postponement of the entry into force of the Law on Promotion of Energy from Renewable Sources is widening the
compliance gap with respect to the renewable energy acquis, according to the report.

Moldova has to adopt rules on auctions for granting support to renewable energy projects and must simplify administrative procedures
and methodologies for determining the cost of connection to the transmission and distribution networks.

During 2017,Moldova has made good progress by adopting certain regulations required to implement the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and preparing the draft Energy Efficiency Law to transpose the Energy Efficiency Directive.

The first priority for Moldova should be to work towards full compliance of the Law on Energy Performance of Buildings with Directive 2010/31/EU by developing and implementing the buildings certification system, including the certificate calculation software. The second priority is the adoption of the Energy Efficiency Law, the report reads.

With the exception of the priorities related to the large combustion plants and industrial emissions directives, Moldova followed up on the priorities set in last year’s implementation report. However, Moldova still must adopt the necessary domestic legal measures transposing the relevant provisions of those directives into national law without further delay. Otherwise, the secretariat said, it will have to start enforcement action.

Finally, regarding climate sector, the preparation of legislation compliant with EU regulations is progressing in Moldova, but a remaining barrier to further progress in the sector is the country's limited financial and technical capacity.

"Moldova should formally establish an inventory system by adopting the Regulation on the Organization and Functioning of the National Monitoring and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Other Information relevant to Climate Change as soon as possible."

The Energy Community was established in October 2005 with the key aim of extending the EU internal energy market to Southeast Europe and beyond on the basis of a legally binding framework. The international organisation consists of the EU, represented by the European Commission, and the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine.