38 associations of tenants from different cities of the country will follow training to increase the energy efficiency of buildings, following the applications for participation submitted under the "First Movers" Project. Thus, several administrators of blocks of flats in Chisinau, Calarasi, Soroca, Ceadîr-Lunga, Drochia, Balti, Hincesti will be familiar with the possibilities of financing energy efficiency projects, including the administrative, legal and technical aspects of modernization of multi-storeyed blocks.

The project also foresees that after training, 10 tenants' associations will continue to participate in the project, which will have the possibility to carry out a free energy audit of the building.

In the final stage, up to 3 projects will be selected, depending on the budget of the given project for the elaboration of the estimates documentation. The selection of the projects will also be based on the decisions taken during the general meetings of the owners of residential buildings certifying the willingness of the tenants to implement and finance energy efficiency measures.

The implementation of the project will contribute, in the medium and short term, to the creation of an Energy Efficiency Fund for the residential sector, as well as to raising public awareness about the importance and opportunities to improve energy efficiency and the development of renewable energy sources. In addition, in the long run, it will help reduce our country's dependence on natural gas imports, households will suffer less from rising energy prices, and CO2 emissions will be reduced.

Andrei Spinu, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development: "The old housing fund in the current state puts both the tenants, the owners and the state in a dependency report. That is why it is necessary to take pro-active measures for the modernization of residential buildings." The deputy prime minister also said that energy efficiency is one of the priority areas of state policy, as the need to reduce the consumption of energy resources is today more relevant for Moldova than ever.

All participants in the project will receive advice from experts, including from a group of international specialists from Ukraine with experience in implementing energy efficiency projects.

Adrian Lupusor, Executive Director of Expert-Grup: "We see the example of our closest neighbors, such as Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic countries, who successfully implement energy efficiency programs in their own country. This project takes into account all this experience and will help to go through all the stages of modernization of a multi-storey building as soon as possible. In the future, this experience should become the basis of the massive energy modernization of Moldova's housing stock."

The project "First Movers" is implemented by the Independent Analytical Center Expert-Grup in partnership with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Republic of Moldova, within the framework of technical assistance to improve energy efficiency and security in the Republic of Moldova for the period 2022-2024.

More details about the measures that can be implemented in residential buildings and the financial conditions of the project can be found here: Details