Maxim Abdusa, electric car owner and developer of a charging stations chain in Moldova, has developed an innovative technology to charge the electric vehicles. He installed photovoltaic panels with a total area of 52.48 m2 on the roof of a multistore building in Chisinau. Solar panels provide green energy for electric vehicles charging station and for lighting the common areas of the building. The old EV lithium-ion battery stores and releases the produced green energy.

This is the first solar powered electric vehicles charging station launched in Chisinau. This initiative was possible thanks to support from UNDP project “Sustainable Green Cities”, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The entire technology chain promotes a sustainable mobility with zero emissions. “The promotion of renewable energy sources is a solution to reduce energy dependence of the Moldova and to have positive impact on the environment. At the same time, advancing on the use of green energy sources is necessary for progress on Sustainable Development Goals, which Moldova has committed to achieve by 2030. Involvement of the private sector in promotion of new innovative solutions for achieving national targets is extremely important from one side, as well as making people feel all the benefits resulted from efficient use of energy,” says Dima Al-Khatib, UNDP Moldova resident representative.

The electric vehicles market is fast-growing. According to the data of the Public Services Agency, 222 electric vehicles were registered in 2019 in Moldova, which is twice as much as in 2018. In the following 10 years, dozens of electric cars in Moldova will have to replace their batteries.

“Electric car batteries have a long lifespan, but in the end, they reach a degree of wear which significantly limit driving range. However, they can be used for storing renewable energy generated by solar panels or wind turbines. This is the first example of electric car battery reuse but not the last one. We already have some demand from the filling stations, which intend to give up classic generators that are costly to maintain, noisy and polluting, aside from being expensive to purchase,” said Maxim Abdusa, manager of QMS International, a company that benefited from a 8,000 USD grant, that topped us his own invested of 18,280 USD.

The electric car owners can charge their vehicles with green energy for an advantageous price. “We installed a charging station in the garage. However I prefer to charge my car here, because it is cheaper than at home and, not least, because I fill the car with clean energy,” says Ina Butnaru, owner of an electric car, and resident of the apartment building which benefitted from the smart technology.

The photovoltaic panels installed since December 12 have generated so far 1350 kW of green power. On a yearly basis they will contribute to reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 7845 kg.

The data base of the electric vehicles charging stations is available at  https://www.plugshare.com/

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Moldova Sustainable Green Cities project, with a 5-year duration (2018-2022), has a total budget of 2.72 mil. USD, of which 2.64 mil. USD are provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and 80,000 USD – by UNDP Moldova.