The government of the Republic of Moldova met with the lights off
The government of Prime Minister Natalia Gavriliță met on Wednesday afternoon in a meeting, in the dark, to save electricity in the face of a deficit affecting the Republic of Moldova due to the Russian bombing of the energy infrastructure in Ukraine, reports Agerpres, according to NewsMaker and Noi.md .
At the beginning of the meeting, the head of the Moldovan executive briefly allowed the light to be turned on so that the press could take protocol photos, but later the ministers continued the meeting in the dark, according to the Noi.md portal.
Natalia Gavriliţă assured her team, led by Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu, is doing everything possible to resolve the situation regarding the energy crisis.
“We have developed different scenarios. (…) Yes, we go to alternative resources. We procure electricity from Romania. But we need additional quantities, which on the market are much more than what we have had so far. We urge to continue to save, to reduce consumption’, invited the head of the Moldovan executive, quoted by the local publication NewsMaker.
For his part, Andrei Spînu, also Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development, said that the risk of massive power cuts still exists.
It can be seen that the measures taken in order with last week, but in a particularly open manner with Monday, are yielding results. A slow decrease in consumption is felt especially during peak hours, but as you can see it is not enough. We still have that 7 percent deficit’, he noted.
On October 10, Ukraine announced that it was suspending the export of electricity, including to the Republic of Moldova, due to Russian drone and missile attacks that affected the country’s energy infrastructure.
On October 11, Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu declared that the Republic of Moldova will receive all electricity from the Cuciurgan Power Plant (MGRES), in the order of the day.
Recently, the unrecognized authorities from Tiraspol announced that the Cuciurgan plant will limit the export of electricity for the right side of the Dniester. Thus, instead of 70%, Chisinau will receive only 27%. Starting from October 24, the Republic of Moldova will have a deficit of electricity, announced Andrei Spînu.
The presidency in Chisinau announced on Tuesday that it ordered the government to develop cost-saving measures, mandatory for all public institutions.
Also on Tuesday, Tiraspol announced that an emergency occurred at one of the energy blocks of the Cuciurgan Thermal Power Plant, which became non-functional. As a result, the Republic of Moldova has increased the volume of emergency purchases from Romania, notes NewsMaker.md, indicating that the prices of imported energy vary between 190 euros and 348 euros for one MWh, given that the Cuciurgan Thermal Power Plant is 66. of euros for one MWh, according to the quoted source. Thus, the Moldovan authorities urged the new population to save.
Chisinau announced on Wednesday that it wants a discussion with the representatives of Tiraspol regarding the management of the energy crisis. The political reintegration office within the Moldovan government mentioned that the representatives of the mediators and observers in the ‘5+2’ negotiation format regarding the regulation of the Transnistrian conflict are also invited to the meeting, reports Agerpres.