Starting in 2025, the Republic of Moldova will test its first energy communities with renewable energy sources. In this regard, the National Agency for Energy Regulatory, with support from UNDP, has developed a regulation outlining the process of forming, managing, and distributing electricity within these communities, emphasizing transparency, accountability, and sustainability. The regulation was adopted on 19 December 2024.

The document provides a clear definition of the roles and responsibilities of community members. Each energy community with renewable energy sources will consist of at least two members who, under a sharing agreement, will contribute to the use and distribution of renewable electricity. The members can be either individuals or legal entities that install photovoltaic systems and benefit from energy provided by a power plant managed by the community.

The formation of a community begins with the establishment of a legal entity, which shall be non-profit, followed by the submission of an application to the National Agency for Energy Regulatory for registration in the Renewable Energy Communities Registry. The community will then build a power plant and use the energy produced within the community.

Additionally, the community will need to sign an energy-sharing agreement that includes detailed information about consumption points, the power plant and the methods for calculating the energy distributed among its members. Energy sharing will be done for each consumption point individually, and the quantities of shared energy will not exceed the energy actually consumed, as recorded by the metering equipment.

According to the regulation, there will be two types of energy communities with renewable energy sources: local and regional. The local community will cover a smaller area, while the regional community will be larger. In both cases, members will own power plants that produce renewable energy. The maximum capacity of the power plant is determined based on the electricity consumption of the members but cannot exceed 1 MW.

An important aspect of the regulation concerns the sale of unused electricity. Communities with their own energy sources can sell unused electricity to universal service providers or participate in the electricity market, either directly or through aggregators, in accordance with the law. The profits generated will be reinvested and used for community needs.

An energy community with renewable energy sources will also help to reduce bills by establishing lower tariffs, support the creation of new jobs, reduce the carbon footprint and contribute to energy resilience.

The first energy communities with renewable energy sources in the Republic of Moldova will be tested starting next year, with the support of Sweden, Norway, UNDP, and other development partners, in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy. These communities will represent a step toward a greener and more sustainable future.

UNDP has also developed a policy study for viable energy communities with renewable energy sources.