Moldova to buy from Romania 74% of electricity needed on Tuesday

State-owned energy trader Energocom has failed to purchase enough electricity from the centralised energy market in Bucharest, Moldelectrica announced on Monday evening.

Energocom said in a statement on Monday evening that it was unable to buy electricity for Tuesday from Romanian power market OPCOM due to a sudden surge in prices. "In this case, Moldelectrica will cover the deficit for Tuesday from operators in neighboring countries, based on existing emergency contracts," Energocom said.

Moldova's deputy prime minister and infrastructure minister Andrei Spinu told ProTV Chisinau on Monday evening that Moldelectrica requested emergency electricity supplies from Romanian transmission operator Transelectrica. "What happened is not yet clear. We had a significant increase in the price of electricity on European markets, including in Romania. We are talking about increases of 30-40%," Spinu said.

On November 24, Moldova's Supreme Security Council recommended to the government to update its plan for reducing technical vulnerabilities related to the supply of electricity and thermal energy, to mobilize all electricity and thermal energy generation capacities, to speed up the implementation of relevant policies in the energy field and to ensure, in real time, communication with critical infrastructure operators in the public and private sectors.

Moldovan president Maia Sandu convened a meeting of the Supreme Security Council after the country faced a second massive blackout this month due to new Russian missile attacks on Ukraine. On November 24, Sandu condemned Russia's massive attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, stressing that they also affect Moldova's energy security, leaving villages and towns without electricity.

On Wednesday, Russia launched multiple airstrikes on Ukrainian cities, knocking out power and water service in most of them, according to Ukrainian president's office. Moldova was in a similar situation on November 15, when over 100 Russian missiles hit major Ukrainian cities.

In October, Romanian hydropower producer Hidroelectrica signed a 100MW power supply contract with Energocom, after capping the price of electricity exports to Moldova. The decision was announced two days after Andrei Spinu said that Moldova is directly affected by Ukraine's decision to halt electricity exports following Russia's missile strikes on several Ukrainian cities on October 10. Moldova used to import 30% of electricity necessary for domestic consumption from Ukraine.

(1 euro=20.1332 lei)