CHISINAU (Moldova), December 23 (SeeNews) – The Moldovan unit of Russian power producer and trader Inter RAO UES, MoldGRES, will resume electricity supplies to Moldova from January 1 next year by delivering around 250 million kilowatthour (kWh) per month, Inter RAO UES said on Tuesday.
MoldGRES is located in Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria where most of the country's Russian-speaking population lives. The region demands full independence from Moldova.
"Inter RAO UES will supply around 250 million kWh monthly, which could cover Moldova’s electricity consumption, excluding the electricity produced by the local power plants," Inter RAO UES said in a statement.
Moldova has three gas-fired power plants that meet 30% of the country's annual electricity demand of around three billion kWh.
RAO UES added that the contract will help maintain Moldova's energy security and increase the efficiency of the country's energy system.
Earlier on Tuesday, Moldova’s deputy Economy Minister Tudor Copaci said that MoldGRES will supply electricity to Moldova until March 31, 2010 under the contract.
Both Inter RAO UES and Copaci did not elaborate on the price that Moldova will pay for the electricity it will buy from MoldGRES. Copaci only said it will not be higher than the price which the country is paying currently for the electricity it imports from Ukraine.
Moldova buys 70% of the electricity it needs from its eastern neighbour Ukraine, paying an average 5.7 U.S. cents per kilowatthour (kWh), and the price rises by some 0.1 U.S. cents each month. The contract with Ukraine expires in July 2009.
"We will buy most of the electricity from MoldGRES and less from Ukraine," Copaci said.
Moldova stopped buying electricity from MoldGRES in November of 2005 when MoldGRES raised the price for Moldova to 4.08 U.S. cents per kWh from 3.05 U.S. cents previously. Ukraine asked 2.5 U.S. cents per kWh at the time.
MoldGRES, with installed capacity of 2,520 megawatts, supplies electricity to Transdniestria, located on the left bank of the Dniestr river in eastern Moldova, and the country's neighbour Romania. Inter RAO UES said last month it plans to more than quadruple power exports from MoldGRES to Romania to 290 million kWh per month from 70 million kWh.
Earlier this week the Moldovan government signed an investment agreement with the Czech investment company J&T Finance Group to build a 350-megawatt coal-fired power plant in western Moldova.
