According to Energy Minister Victor Parlicov, Chisinau will become a co-investor in the Cernavoda (Romania) nuclear power plant to meet part of its electricity needs.
“Now it will be much easier for us to identify sources for participation in this project compared to the situation in which we were in the 90s. The money for this investment will not be allocated from the state budget. They can be provided under the state guarantee of international financial institutions. This is a major investment that even the Romanian budget cannot afford,” said Parlicov.
Referring to the energy needs that a nuclear plant can cover, the minister said that “Depending on how much money we invest, we can cover even all energy needs. It depends on how this project will develop and how successfully we will be able to attract money to participate in the financing of the project.”
Romania proposes to double the capacity of Cernavoda. The current capacity of Cernavoda is 1400 MW.
“The intention is for Moldova to become a co-investor in this project, and, on the one hand, we contribute to the implementation of the project to provide certain amounts of energy to consumers in the Republic of Moldova.”
Unit 3 Cernovode is due to be commissioned at the end of 2030, and unit 4 a year later, after covering costs estimated at 7 billion euros, which will double the contribution of nuclear energy to the energy system, according to a bill passed by the Government of Bucharest in December 2022.