Republic of Moldova

Energy and Biomass Project Progress presented at the Board Meeting

September 16, 2011, Chisinau - the second meeting of the Energy and Biomass Project Board was held on September 16 in Chisinau. The project progress and the activities planned to be fulfilled by the end of 2011 were presented during the meeting.

Hence, during April 15 – September 10, the Energy and Biomass Project organized public meetings to introduce the project in 7 districts (Ştefan Vodă, Leova, Cantemir, Hânceşti, Teleneşti, Sângerei, Făleşti) and Gagauz-Yeri ATU. The district and local public authorities, mayors, directors of schools, kindergartens, community centers, owners of agricultural lands, and economic units from the mentioned regions (all in all over 450 persons) were informed about the opportunities to put value on the local sources for heating production and the conditions to be met so as to get connected to the straw-fired heating systems. As a result, 65 villages sent their intention letters, expressing their wish to get their public institutions connected to the biomass-based heating systems. After several selection stages, the proposals of 17 villages were accepted to be funded. Thus, 22 rural public institutions (schools, kindergartners, community centers) will benefit from straw-fired heating systems installed with the financial support of the Energy and Biomass Project.

At the same time, the Energy and Biomass Project launched a study to identify the most affordable solutions for biomass-based heating in rural households and another survey regarding the local capacities and potential for developing a local market for briquettes. It should be mentioned that the Energy and Biomass Project will encourage the market launch of energy efficient technologies based on biomass, as well as their use by households. One of the actions will be the subsidizing of production and/or installation of about 500 energy efficient stoves. Thus, the biomass-based heating equipment will become accessible to household consumers and will be sold at convenient prices, fostering, at the same time, the development of the market in the respective area. The project will also support the set-up of commercial briquetting enterprises, thus diversifying the local biomass fuel market; the expected productivity of these enterprises is envisaged to account for about 1000 tons of briquettes, annually.

To ensure the sustainability of the project interventions beyond its lifetime, resources will be invested in activities for project local partners’ and beneficiaries’ knowledge and capacity development. To date, 196 persons from 18 villages benefited from trainings in local resources’ mobilization. By the end of the year, the community leaders from the villages in which straw-fired heating systems are to be installed will benefit from trainings in effective management of biomass heating systems, project management and participatory evaluation of projects at community level. Boiler operators will be trained in techniques for biomass-based equipment use.  Special attention shall be granted to entrepreneurs’ capacity development - the future providers of straw-based fuel. The training for this target group shall focus on assessing business opportunities and threats, equipment needs and fuel quality control.

The Moldova Energy and Biomass Project will be implemented during 2011-2014. Its total budget is 14,56 million euro, granted by the European Union (14 million euro) and UNDP Moldova (560.000 euro).

For more information:
Alexandru Ursul, Energy and Biomass Project Manager, Tel: (+373 69)226595, alexandru.ursul@undp.org
Ina Prisăcaru-Zglavuţă, Communication and Mass-Media Specialist, Energy and Biomass Project, Tel: (+373 69)141006, ina.zglavuta@undp.org