Moldova has taken steps to contract €30mn loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), for the implementation of an energy efficiency project aimed at public buildings such as hospitals and schools.

European Commission's Neighbourhood Investment Platform will extend a €15mn grant to the loans contracted by the country.

The total budget of the project is €75mn, with an implementation period of four years (2022-2025).

The main beneficiaries of the energy efficiency project will be public institution such as kindergartens, schools, municipal and district hospitals.

"Following the implementation of the project, citizens will have access to quality services under better conditions, given that the main categories of buildings to be rehabilitated are those for social purposes. Thus, only by rehabilitating the hospital institutions included in the short list of the project, it is estimated that 250,000 patients will benefit from high-quality services annually,” according to a document on the project.

The project provides for the improvement or rehabilitation of the building’s thermal insulation, of its heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, the implementation of lighting systems, heat distribution, and for the integration of renewable energy resources, when this is technically allowed.

"The aim is to improve the interior comfort of buildings, reduce CO2 emissions, thus mitigating the impact on climate change,” the document said. 

According to the EIB's pre-feasibility study, the payback period is 15.3 years. But when accounting for all the benefits provided by the energy efficiency projects such as increasing disposable income, reducing spending on drugs, improving comfort conditions, supplementary taxes and payments to the budget from the project, increasing the value of buildings and their life, it is estimated at only 3.7-4.1 years.