How the share of renewable energy has evolved in Poland, what solutions for storing surplus energy are applied, what support programs for the population the Polish state has implemented in the field of green energy and energy efficiency, are some of the topics discussed on June 27-28, at the workshop "Cooperation in the field of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency between Poland and the Republic of Moldova in the context of energy security and energy transformation in the process of integration with the EU".

State Secretary in charge of decarbonization Carolina Novac said at the opening of the event that the Moldovan side is interested in the development of energy clusters and communities, as well as technical storage solutions. Similarly, in the transition to the green economy, the authorities must also take into account vulnerable consumers, who cannot afford photovoltaic panels, heat pumps, electric cars, but need to be helped through various mechanisms.

"We have a lot to learn from Poland, how you have managed to diversify your energy sources, we are interested in the experience of the Climate Ministry. I want to see much more Polish investment in Moldova, on the decarbonization dimension, on renewable energy. We are also interested in your experience in terms of the challenges encountered with the installation of larger renewable energy capacities", said Carolina Novac.

Another topic of interest from the Polish experience that the representatives of the central authorities in Chisinau were interested in was the history of large capacity tenders, information that will be relevant in the context of the launch of the first public tenders in the Republic of Moldova by the end of the year. Representatives of the Polish Ministry of Economic Development and Technology also spoke about the switch from net metering to net billing, a solution to prevent situations when homeowners put in photovoltaic installations three to four times higher than their energy consumption. The Warsaw colleagues said that in a year's time they plan to introduce an hourly billing mechanism for household producers, as opposed to the daily billing currently.

"The Republic of Moldova for us is not just a neighboring state, but we have the same challenges and security risks. We want to see you soon in the European community. We also had huge costs last year because of the energy crisis and we had to help gas and electricity consumers. Yes, the energy transition is costly, but it is worth the effort," said Krzysztof Mech, Head of the Low Emission Economy Directorate at the Polish Ministry of Economic Development and Technology.