The State Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Carolina Novac, discussed with the team of the Agency for Energy Efficiency (AEE) about the reorganization of the institution.

The ministry has set as one of its priorities the realization of several energy efficiency projects - both in the residential and public sectors, initiatives such as exchanging old household appliances for more energy-efficient ones, improving the energy efficiency performance of buildings and thermo-energy infrastructure, in order to achieve more rational energy consumption and lower energy bills. And all these projects, and many others to come, will be implemented by the Agency, which will be fortified, said State Secretary Carolina Novac.

"The energy sector is going through an extensive transformation process. We are working on amending several laws to give the Agency a key role on the energy efficiency dimension. The Agency will be a key pillar in transforming the energy sector towards the decarbonization target. We have a lot of work to do together on increasing the capacities of human resources, starting large-scale projects with a positive impact for our citizens", the Secretary of State told them.

Part of the money for energy efficiency projects would come from foreign donors, another part - from the Energy Efficiency Obligation Scheme, a concept recently introduced in the legislation, and a loan component covered by the final beneficiary is also being considered. The operators of electricity and natural gas distribution systems, as well as importers of petroleum products, will contribute annually to the energy efficiency fund a certain percentage of the total annual volume of energy sales to final consumers. These financial sources will be included in the state budget law and earmarked for energy efficiency projects. The Ministry of Energy is working on finalizing the concept of how this mechanism will work, decarbonization secretary of state Carolina Novac also announced.

According to the director of the institution, Ion Muntean, in a few months the new structure should have 45 employees, three times more than at present. He said that once the team will increase its institutional capacity, it will also focus its attention on attracting European funds available for Moldova.