The Republic of Moldova: An enabling environment for wind and solar energy

Sammanfattning: The Republic of Moldova is celebrating 20 years of independence and is still almost completely dependent on energy imports from the Russian federation. Renewable energy is in its infancy despite a climate that is well suited for solar and wind energy with 2,300 sunshine hours per year and measured wind speeds up to 8.5 m/s. Moldova has a history of wine production and wide spread usage of more than 6,000 wind mills across the country. However, this is not common knowledge and there is a perception that renewable energy is not feasible in Moldova. Lack of enforcing regulation, transparency and political stability are part of missing pieces of the puzzle to trigger mass deployment. Currently, there is high attention on becoming an EU member with great commitment from the international community for EU integration and addressing energy security and efficiency. EU has allocated 42.6 million EUR for the energy sector. SIDA is allocating 12.2 million EUR annually until 2014, distributed across three sectors where energy is part of the initiative for a sustainable society. SIDA is coordinating the donor energy activities in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and the Department of Energy Security and Efficiency. The thesis explores what is required to create an enabling environment to successfully deploy wind and solar energy by identifying key actors and their activities to gain access to critical resources through the interaction process. The role of individual choice in enabling the final pieces of the puzzle and determining the direction of the evolution of actor webs, activity patterns and resources constellations.