The regulations for the implementation of innovative testing projects and regarding the organization and operation of the Commission for Innovative Testing Spaces in Energy Regulation or Sandbox was discussed today with the members of the Economic Council next to the Prime Minister.

The Economic Council includes representatives of business associations that represent the interests of different sectors, being mandated to pronounce on public policy projects in the process of ensuring decision-making transparency.

The State Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Cristina Pereteatcu, presented the draft Regulation, the functioning of the Commission and its secretariat, the application methods for Sandbox membership and other details relevant to the organization of future innovative projects in the field of energy.

The regulation on the implementation of innovative testing projects establishes the procedure for the initiation, examination and approval of innovative testing projects, on the selection of innovative projects and the requirements for the Annual Report on innovation in energy regulatory matters.

The commission will organize the selection procedures for participation in the innovative testing spaces and will be made up of 11 members, among them - one representative each of the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of the Environment, ANRE, SIS, the Technical University of Moldova, the National Center for Sustainable Energy, the Institute of Energy and three independent experts, nominated by the Ministry of Energy. To ensure the Secretariat of the Commission, a specialized unit is to be created within the Ministry of Energy.

We remind you that the Sandbox law, regarding spaces for testing innovations in the field of energy, was approved in August last year. Based on this law, companies in the energy sector will be able to test innovative solutions with exemptions from certain provisions of the existing legislation. According to the document, Sandboxes will provide a safe environment for innovation, allowing stakeholders to explore the potential of new solutions while managing risks effectively. The innovative testing space will be authorized for a maximum period of seven years, with the possibility of a justified extension for another maximum period of five years.

The main areas of experimentation in the energy sector in which companies will be able to experiment, but not limited to these, are:

• Collective self-consumption and energy communities;

• Electro-mobility;

• Flexibility and balancing services;

• Integration of renewable energy sources (RES)

• Smart networks;

• Tariff policies.

All these fields have potential for innovation activity in Moldova as well, due to the fact that Moldova offers a relatively small and limited market in terms of the number of consumers for carrying out these experiments with an innovative purpose, but at the same time it possesses the structural qualities of a model of the European energy sector.

To allow for the maximum flexibility possible, Sandboxes do not explicitly limit the innovative technologies and approaches that can be tested within them.

The draft law was developed with the support of UNDP Moldova and with funding from Denmark, Luxembourg, the Republic of Korea and Sweden.