For the Republic of Moldova, the production of indigenous renewable energy is of national importance and is included in the national development priorities of the 2020 Strategy: "reducing energy consumption by increasing energy efficiency and using renewable energy sources". Thus, the renewable energy targets and the distinct biofuel target in the heating sector contribute to a more comprehensive effort to achieve the national target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 17% by 2020 compared to the values recorded in 1990.
And, although the Republic of Moldova has made some progress in diversifying alternative energy sources, largely by developing the biomass energy sector, managing to reduce energy dependence from 98% import (2011) to 84% (2016), diversification of sources of raw materials remains one of the major challenges of the alternative energy sector.
The proposed project was conceived as a result of developments in the biofuel market in the Republic of Moldova where the availability of raw materials in some localities of the Republic of Moldova is a barrier for consumers (institutions and population) to obtain biofuels at affordable and economically justified prices. A solution in this respect would be to develop energy plantations on low-yielding land, excluded from farming cycle. In order to help to address the situation, the proposed project aims to encourage producers of solid biofuels to develop energy willow plantations by offering planting material.
In this respect, the BioEnergetica Association from Moldova with the support of the Small Grants Program of the Global Environment Fund aims to purchase the planting material to be offered on a competitive basis to the producers in the identified areas in order to create their own energy willow plantations. In addition, the beneficiaries of planting material for the development of energy plantations will be helped by the association to develop platforms for the collection of raw material in the area of activity. In this sense, working sessions will be organized with the agricultural entrepreneurs and the local population to establish the collection mechanism.
The proposed project is relevant to the objectives of the Country Programme Strategy of GEF SGP. Two areas of the operational phase no. 6. Component 3: Low Carbon Energy Access Co-benefits, by creating energy plantations and increasing the accessibility of solid biofuels to consumers. Another indicator to be achieved within this component is to create solid biofuel platforms as a locally adapted solution so that biomass from agricultural and forestry residues is used for energy purposes in the areas where it is collected. Demonstration of the feasibility of this model will allow replication in other localities/areas, which will contribute to the development of local capacities in the field of sustainable waste management.
Component 5: CSO-Government Policy and Planning Dialogue Platforms (Grant-makers +): by strengthening the platform for dialogue between the member organizations of the Biomass Energy Cluster of which they are part and CSOs whose management is provided by the Association of Bioenergy in the Republic of Moldova and the central public authorities .
Component 6: Promoting Social Inclusion (Grant-makers +): By ensuring gender equality, women's representatives of biofuel producing companies, members of BioEnergetica Association of RM, are involved in the project activities.
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