The Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country, located between the northeastern border of Romania and the southwestern edge of Ukraine. Its surface area of 33 800 km² puts makes it roughly the same size as Armenia or Belgium. Moldova had a population of 2.45 million in 2023, a decline of 15% since 2013. Continued urbanisation amid this population drain presents important policy considerations for heating sector reforms. This chapter provides an overview of Moldova’s energy policy framework, its energy targets and objectives, institutional governance and statistics on its heating sector. 

Moldova’s energy sector is governed by several key institutions that collaborate to manage energy resources, production and consumption. The Ministry of Energy is the primary policymaking body, tasked with developing strategic energy policies to ensure energy security and sectoral development. Its National Centre for Sustainable Energy (NCSE) works to ensure the implementation of these policies, notably in the fields of renewables and energy efficiency. The NCSE also identifies and manages funds for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, provides direct or co-financing for initiatives, and develops financing programs that combine external funds, state budgets and energy efficiency obligations.

The Ministry of Environment has a broad ecological remit to ensure energy policies align with sustainability goals, promote efficient energy consumption and support renewables. Moldova’s regulatory authority in the energy sector is the National Agency for Energy Regulation (ANRE). It oversees market regulation and approves prices and tariffs for electricity, natural gas and district heating, as well as water and sewage.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is the country’s main statistical body. It defines statistical methodologies, conducts national surveys and collects and processes data for Moldova’s energy balance, which are shared with the International Energy Agency and Eurostat. The National Agency for Research and Development (NARD) oversees research and innovation policies, including European Union research programmes such as Horizon Europe. NARD supports energy-related initiatives by funding projects, fostering partnerships and promoting international collaboration to advance energy research and technology. 

Moldova passed legally binding legislation in April 2024 that commits the country to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. In addition to setting this target, Law No. 74 on Climate Action establishes a climate change commission to coordinate policies and public spending on adaptation and mitigation.

Moldova’s Energy Strategy of 2030 had set several intermediate targets related to renewable energy, including renewable heat, up until 2020. The country’s National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP, No. 86 of 26/02/2025), recently approved by Moldova’s Cabinet of Ministers, has updated these objectives for 2030 and added additional targets.

These targets include achieving a 27% share of renewable energy in final energy consumption and slightly growing the share of renewable energy in heating and cooling to 42.5% of gross final energy consumption by 2030, with heat pumps contributing 2.3%. Currently, much of the renewable energy for heating purposes consists of solid biofuels. The NECP also identifies a financial need of USD 180 million for “Promotion of heat pumps in the Republic of Moldova”.

Moldova’s ambition on renewable electricity is more apparent. Its share in the NECP’s planned policies scenario is expected to increase from around 9% in 2023 to 18.2% in 2025 and to 31.2% in 2030. Biomass production is expected to remain stable, though it is unclear which technologies can fill the gap – and to what extent. Greater detail on the roles of specific technologies is needed, while explicit heat pump targets would provide clarity to the industry and public.

The NECP sets annual energy intensity targets for 2020 to 2030, followed by five-year targets until 2050. These include a 45% reduction in primary energy intensity (measured in units of energy per EUR) and a 27% decrease in final energy intensity by 20301. Combined, these reductions should amount to a 75% decrease by 2050.

Sectoral energy efficiency targets for heating currently include modest goals, such as increasing residential space heating efficiency to 69% in 2030 from 66% in 2020. A broader deployment of heat pumps – which typically operate at 300-400% efficiency – could support a more ambitious target. The NECP also aims targets a 50% reduction in industrial energy intensity between 2020 and 2030, highlighting the need to reduce reliance on solid biomass – though without specific targets – and to cut absolute poverty levels by at least 50%.

The Moldovan government clearly recognises the benefits of heat pumps and their role in achieving their policy goals. Ground-source heat pumps have been identified as a “top priority” technology for adapting the energy sector to climate change. In addition, Moldova submitted a National Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) in 2018, seeking support for implementing a project promoting heat pumps. Approximately USD 90 million was requested as a grant and USD 54 million as a concessional loan. Although, as of writing, it appears to have gone unfunded, it underscores the country’s awareness of heat pumps to reduce natural gas consumption.

Moldova’s Renewable Energy Law prioritises expanding renewable electricity – namely wind and solar – while promoting efficiency in energy transformation, transmission and consumption. It transposes key EU legislation, like the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), defining terms and calculation methods for gross final consumption of renewables in heating and cooling, as outlined in Articles 23 and 24 of RED III.

Renewable energy is set to play a bigger role in district heating, given that the country requires 1.1 percentage-point annual increase in renewables share. However, the NECP also expects overall production of district heating to decline by a third, while residential energy demand will also fall significantly by 2050. Heat pumps have an opportunity to fill these gaps.

A national heating and cooling strategy can help clarify the country’s thermal demands and its available heat sources. It also can guide electricity grid expansion to support wider electrification through heat pumps and building renovations – both of which are key to minimising the cost of a large-scale heat pump rollout. Moldova lacks a national heat plan and a comprehensive study of its heating sector. It could look to Ireland’s National Heat Study as a model. A World Bank study, which is not yet public, has started examining Moldova’s heating and cooling landscape.

Amendments to the Energy Efficiency Law are expected to deliver annual energy savings of 0.8% from 2024 to 2030, based on 2019-2022 average consumption, thanks to measures included in the Government’s Energy Efficiency Obligation scheme such as building renovations and support for new technologies. As previously discussed, the NECP lays out its high-level energy efficiency targets.

Moldova’s Law on Energy Performance in Buildings mandates the consideration of alternative energy sources, such as heat pumps, in new building designs. In April 2024, new regulations were introduced to adapt to the European Union’s updated Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) from 2018, while in September 2024, Moldova adopted updated rules for energy performance certification. The country’s legislative framework for building performance is thus comprehensive, yet a long-term building renovation strategy is still pending. As required by Article 14 of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive, Moldova has yet to complete an assessment of its potential for efficient heating and cooling.

Moldova also mandates high efficiency for electric appliances through its law 151/2014, which set Ecodesign requirements for energy-related products. This was further complemented by the country’s law 306/2023 on efficiency labelling for energy-related products.

Moldova has set itself on a path to join the European Union, with voters in October 2024 approving a constitutional amendment making accession to the bloc an official national goal. Moldova has adopted significant energy sector reforms to align with EU standards. Since joining the Energy Community – a group of countries pursuing energy sector reforms to support their bids for EU membership – in 2010, Moldova has made notable progress. As of 2024, it ranks among the group’s top performers, having implemented 66% of energy reforms, compared to the 51% group average. Its strongest performance lies in the competence of its national authorities and in decarbonising the energy sector, while it lags in environmental improvements.

Moldova’s recent push for closer integration with the European Union is evident in the signing of a EUR 310 million agreement with the European Commission to align the country’s energy system with the EU market. 

Moldova lacks domestic hydrocarbon resources, highlighting the potential of renewables to reduce not only the country’s greenhouse gas emissions but to strengthen its energy security. It has no domestic fossil fuels and imports more than 80% of its primary energy. Biomass has long been Moldova’s sole domestic energy resource, yet over the past five years it has rapidly expanded its solar and wind capacity. Nevertheless, securing reliable and consistent gas and electricity supplies has been the country’s biggest energy security challenge.

Moldova’s main source of electricity is the MGRES power plant, a facility located in Transnistria that runs primarily on natural gas supplied by the Russian Federation. In past years, Transnistria has benefited from fossil fuels supplied by Russia at no cost. These fuels have been used to heat homes and businesses, power industrial processes and supply MGRES. Following Ukraine’s refusal to renew its natural gas transit agreement with Russia, gas supplies to Transnistria were halted in January 2025. This situation has continued to evolve during the preparation of this report.

Moldova began its shift away from Russian fossil fuels in October 2021, when it started importing natural gas via Romania, ending its exclusive reliance on Gazprom. As a result, Moldovagaz – the former monopoly utility controlled by Gazprom – saw its market share drop from 98% in 2022 to 90% in the first quarter of 2024. Gazprom’s deliveries to Moldovagaz stopped entirely in January 2025.

To bolster energy security and diversify energy supplies, additional steps were taken, including integrating the transmission network. Moldova, alongside Ukraine, synchronised its electricity grids with the main European network operated by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E). Commercial electricity flows between Moldova and ENTSO-E countries began on 30 June 2022, further diversifying Moldova’s electricity supplies away from MGRES.

Energy use in buildings represents the largest share of total final consumption (TFC) in Moldova at around 53%, or 55.6 petajoules (PJ) in 2023. Building energy supply is dominated by biofuels and natural gas. The transport sector accounts for some 30% share of TFC – roughly 31.5 PJ in 2023 – almost entirely from oil products. Industry, agriculture and forestry round out the list with 17% in total, with energy use drawn largely from oil products, natural gas and electricity. 

This highlights the importance of decarbonising and improving building performance to meet Moldova’s climate and energy efficiency goals. The challenge is not just phasing out natural gas and heating oil in Moldova’s buildings – it is also limiting the use of biomass which, when used unsustainably, poses health and environmental risks.

Emissions from Moldova’s energy sector come chiefly from natural gas, most of which is burned in buildings, for cogeneration plants for district heating and for industry. Oil is also responsible for a large share of emissions, but it is used primarily by the transport sector.

Moldova’s heating sector relies on a mix of imported fossil fuels and domestic biomass. Most heat is provided through individual building systems, with the rest from cogeneration plants fuelled largely by natural gas. These resources are either entirely imported (e.g. natural gas and heating oil) or depend on limited, largely unsustainable2 biomass – Moldova’s only domestic source of heating fuel.

In residential buildings, the bulk of the energy consumed (69%) is for space heating. This energy is derived mainly from biomass (65%), natural gas (16%) and district heating (13%). Electricity currently accounts for less than 1% of space heating in Moldovan homes, highlighting the still-minor role of heat pumps in the country.

Electricity accounts for a larger share of demand for water heating – around 34%. The remaining energy comes from a combination of natural gas (52%), oil products (6%) and district heat (4%). Air-to-water heat pumps can provide both space and water heating from a single appliance – and do so more efficiently than electric boilers.

Over the past decade, demand for heating services in Moldovan buildings has fallen by around 12%. This broadly mirrors the country’s 15% population decline since 2013 – a trend that accelerated after 2018. This wave of emigration coincided with a 35% drop in demand for home-heating biomass beginning in 2018 – although until 2021 this was partially offset by an increase in natural gas use. From 2021 to 2023, Moldova’s natural gas demand for heating dropped by 40%.

District heat demand declined more slowly during this period, while electricity consumption since 2013 has increased by around 4%.

While some of the decline in biomass use for heating can be attributed to Moldova’s shrinking population, the country has also made efforts to transition from traditional biomass furnaces to more efficient boilers and stoves fuelled by wood pellets or briquettes. This is demonstrated by the 2011-2018 Energy and Biomass Project, a EUR 34.8 million initiative that funded the installation of efficient biomass boilers in public institutions.

Moldova has significant heating system disparities between urban and rural households. Nearly half of urban households depend on centralised systems, which range from connection to a district heat network to shared use of a common boiler in a multi-family building. Another third of urban homes – mainly single-family units – rely on independent systems that supply heat to the entire residence (e.g. through a water-based distribution system). Around 2% of urban dwellings have no heating system whatsoever.

Rural households are almost entirely dependent on individual stoves – appliances that provide heat to a single room only and do not contain a distribution system. These homes are likely to have multiple such devices. Independent heating systems are uncommon, and centralised systems do not exist in rural areas.

Overall, this means that around 64% of Moldovan homes depend on individual stoves for their heating needs. This highlights a need not just to replace heating appliances, but also to install complete heating systems in these homes, including piping, radiators and ductwork. 

Moldova’s urban areas rely significantly on district heating. Overall, district heat supplies about 46% of urban dwellings and some 13% of national space heating demand. Moldova’s district heating system relies on natural gas for more than 95% of its supply, with the rest coming from bioenergy and a negligible amount of oil. More than 99% of district heat is consumed in the two largest cities of Chisinau and Balti. Around 77% of district heat is delivered to households, 14.5% to public institutions and 8.4% to the private sector.

District heat consumption fell by more than 20% between 2010 and 2020, largely due to the retirement of gas-fired heat generation capacity. This trend has continued in recent years, falling another 11% between 2020 and 2023. The remaining district heat capacity is plagued by declining efficiency and output, largely due to underinvestment. In 2022, for instance, ANRE projected Moldovan Leu3 (MDL) 677.3 million (EUR 34.5 million) of investment, but only MDL 137.1 million (EUR 7 million) was realised.

Efficient use of heat pumps in Moldova’s existing networks would require major upgrades to convert them for operation at lower flow temperatures. An ongoing EUR 92 million project, sponsored by the World Bank and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is underway to modernise district heating infrastructure and improve cogeneration efficiency.

Data on heat pump use for space and water heating in buildings is virtually absent from Moldovan energy statistics. As mentioned, electricity accounts for less than 1% of space heating demand. At present, Moldova has not adopted the European Union’s updated methodology from the Renewable Energy Directive methodology for accounting for ambient heat from heat pumps. Including ambient heat in official statistics would provide a clearer picture of the role heat pumps could play in Moldova’s future energy mix. For now, heat pump adoption is starting from a very low base. Government data also indicate a growing number of air-conditioning units being installed in the residential sector, driven by warmer summers.

The Moldovan building sector is characterised by energy intensity that is both high and rising. While its performance is in line with neighbouring countries, improving energy efficiency remains a cost-effective way to lower heating demand. Improving efficiency supports the phase-out of imported natural gas and optimises heat pump performance, topics to be discussed further in the next section. 

Moldovan buildings have low fabric efficiency – i.e. the ability of walls, roofs, windows and floors to retain heat. Around 75% of homes were built before 1990, before the introduction of modern construction practices and energy efficiency standards. A brief construction uptick followed the fall of the Soviet Union, but only 14% of Moldova’s homes have been built since 1996. Rural housing tends to be only marginally newer than urban stock.

Poorly insulated older buildings, particularly in rural areas, rely on inefficient, high-temperature combustion or hydronic heating systems. This reinforces demand for high-temperature district heating, as well as gas boilers that run at high flow temperatures and biomass stoves – all of which contribute to a cascade of inefficiencies throughout the energy system. Upgrading Moldova’s buildings will not only foster heat pump deployment – it will reduce its reliance on natural gas, improve comfort and lower costs across the energy system.

Moldova’s efforts to renovate its ageing housing stock have been sharply split between urban and rural areas. Although urban homes are marginally older on average, around 76% had undergone some form of renovation by April 2022. In contrast, 76% of rural homes had not been renovated at all.

This should be understood in the context of energy use, as discussed earlier. Around 94% of rural households rely on individual stoves for heating – predominantly biomass – while urban homes are more reliant on district heating. Moldova's rural households may face greater challenges in renovating their homes, which is of particular concern given their heavy dependence on inefficient biomass stoves. This underscores the need for targeted policies to improve rural housing and promote more efficient heating appliances.