Moldova’s capital Chisinau has all the makings of becoming a digital Hollywood, the country’s prime minister Dorin Recean told at a business forum last week.
“We're looking for a Hollywood. About Hollywood - it was the end of 2022, when Sony Entertainment Corporation bought, in a transaction of about three billion dollars, a producer of digital content. If we look carefully, where is the biggest campus for the production of that digital content? In Chisinau! I mean, we also have the perspective of a digital-Hollywood,” Recean told the Moldova - Romania Capital Bridges Forum in Bucharest last week.
You can download the 2024 Renewable energy in Southeast Europe report here
And it looks like a major step in turning Moldova into a digital Hollywood has already been made, as one of the fastest growing private energy infrastructure companies in Southeast Europe (SEE) – Premier Energy Group – stands ready to turn on the lights.
“We’ve invested in Moldova because we have seen there a growing market that has needs on the energy side and energy infrastructure,” the company’s CFO Peter Stohr said, while also giving credit to the local work force, which he described as “very talented, devoted, hardworking, multilingual in many cases”.
Stohr, who also attended the Capital Bridges Forum, said that the digital Hollywood mentioned by PM Recean primarily “requires a very strong electrical background, the backbone to the country”.
“We believe that our electrical distribution network is very modern, we have invested over 60 million euro into the network in the last years to make sure that it is able to work in a world where you have an increased amount of renewable resources and you have an increased demand on electricity. For us, it was really important to have that backbone which really drives the rest of the economy in Moldova in many ways,” Stohr explained.
Testament to its success, Premier Energy Group revenues increased from 13 million euro in 2013 to approximately 1 billion euro in 2023. The company seems to be on a good track to unlock further growth at a fast rate and is ready to take advantage of the convergence between the energy markets of Romania and Moldova.
“In terms of the two markets, we see convergence and integration happening and I think it is very important for the people of Moldova to have a choice on where they get their energy from. So, there is more and more integration with the Romanian network both on the electricity side as well as on the natural gas side, which we think that is important and that, at the end of the day, should allow for the Moldovan people to get their energy at the lowest possible prices,” Stohr said.
Acutely aware of the challenges brought by the volatility of the energy market, Premier Energy has achieved outstanding progress due to its flexible business model. “We need to make sure that at the end of the day we stay flexible and that we are efficient so that we can deliver the lowest energy prices to consumers in Moldova and in the region,” the CFO said.
Premier Energy Group owns, manages or has in development approximately 1,000 MW of renewable electricity generation capacity in Romania and Moldova and the goal is to reach. approx. 1,500 MW of capacity over the next few years. In Moldova, it is the number one player on the electricity distributionand supply segment, while in Romania, based on ANRE reports, in 2023 Premier Energy was the third largest gas supplier in the household segment and the fifth largest gas supplier on the non-household segment.
The Group is vertically integrated being present in renewable electricity production, management (including forecasting, balancing and dispatching) and supply along with distribution and supply of natural gas and electricity.
The company relies on a strong and growing customer base of approximately 1 million household customers in Romania and Moldova. Following the closing of the acquisition of CEZ Vanzare, the customer base will more than double.