In a first for the Republic of Moldova, a tender has been launched for the construction of onshore wind power plants with a capacity of up to 105 MW and photovoltaic power plants with a maximum capacity of 60 MW. The plants will be built by investors who will receive, following the tender, the status of large eligible producer and guarantees that they will be supplied with the energy produced for 15 years.

The announcement of the tender and the tender documentation were published today in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Moldova on the website of the Ministry of Energy at https://energie.gov.md/ro/documentatia-de-licitatie.

"Through this tender we aim to offer local and international companies the opportunity to invest in the Republic of Moldova. We insisted on having extensive consultations with the business community and stakeholders in order to establish the most favorable and least bureaucratic conditions for participation in the tender. The beauty of this process is that it is a win-win-win situation - we provide business opportunities, we contribute to the decarbonization of the energy sector and increase the country's energy independence, and through competition we bring the most affordable prices for the end consumer", said Energy Minister Victor Parlicov at the launch of the tenders.

The deadline for submission of bids by interested investors is March 31, 2025, 23.59 (EET). The opening of bids will take place on April 1, 2025, 09.00 (EET).
Potential investors will submit the bid application, technical bid and financial bid, which will be valid for 180 days after the deadline for submission. The files must also include a bank guarantee for the capacity offered, as specified in the tender documentation.

An investor may submit several bids for different projects, provided that each bid is accompanied by a separate financial guarantee, each project bid has an installed capacity higher than 1 MW but less than 60 MW for photovoltaics and higher than 4 MW but less than 105 MW for wind.

According to the participation requirements, the winning investors will receive a guaranteed fixed price for 15 years for the electricity generated. The guaranteed fixed price will be determined in the tender procedure and may not exceed the ceiling price of 1.5 lei/kWh wind and 1.67 lei/kWh solar, set by the National Agency for Energy Regulation. The contract will be awarded to the investor who has offered the lowest price compared to the ceiling price set in the tender documentation.

After the commissioning of the tendered power plants, the share of electricity from renewable energy sources will increase from 10% at the end of 2023 to 16.6%, contributing significantly to the national commitment of a 30% share of electricity from renewable sources in final consumption by 2030.

Three support mechanisms for renewable energy are applied in the Republic of Moldova: net billing to cover own consumption; a 15-year feed-in tariff for producers with a capacity of up to 1 MW; and a fixed price with a guarantee to purchase the energy produced for 15 years, granted through auctions.