Local and foreign companies can develop innovative solutions in the field of energy production, distribution or consumption in the Republic of Moldova. To encourage the testing of new technologies, the Ministry of Energy, with the support of UNDP Moldova and with funding from Denmark, Luxembourg, the Republic of Korea and Sweden, launched the Sandbox mechanism. Thus, our country has become the first in Central and Eastern Europe to change the regulatory approach, responding to the emerging need to stimulate innovation in the sector for an energy transition and sustainable development.

Sandboxes are experimental regulatory spaces in the energy sector, which allow companies and individuals to test innovations in a flexible, but well-controlled and delimited environment. The mechanism involves granting temporary legislative derogations from the current legal framework, for a period of seven years, with the possibility of a justified extension for another five years. Thus, sandboxes support companies and research institutions that want to test new technologies, but also the state, which aims to ensure good regulation of innovations and consumer protection.

Any natural or legal person from the Republic of Moldova or abroad can request approval for a sandbox, if they are not in insolvency or bankruptcy, are not in a conflict of interest and have an innovative project that faces fiscal or legislative obstacles. Also, projects must ensure consumer protection and have the potential to be expanded on a large scale, contributing to the improvement of the current regulatory framework.

Innovators who want to test advanced solutions in the energy sector can find information about the mechanism on the dedicated web platform www.sandbox.energie.gov.md. The site details the eligibility criteria, the benefits of the Sandbox, the organization of activities and the governance framework. Users can access project calls and useful resources to successfully implement their ideas. Likewise, updates on projects accepted in the Sandbox, legislative updates and case studies on the success of other projects will be published.

The implementation of projects in the Sandbox will be supervised by the Commission for Innovative Testing Spaces in Energy Regulation under the Government. The permanent inter-institutional collegiate body will pre-approve the applicants' files and monitor the projects under testing.

The fact that our country has such a mechanism supports the achievement of the sustainable development objectives of the energy sector, such as increasing the volume of investments, increasing the share of renewable energy in gross final consumption to 27% in 2030, strengthening energy security, sustainable economic development and achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

Areas that have great potential for testing in the energy sector of the Republic of Moldova and for which applicants are encouraged to request approval of a sandbox are: collective self-consumption and energy communities, electro-mobility, flexibility and grid balancing services, integration of renewable energy sources, biogas and biomethane production, tariff policies, smart grids or advanced energy-saving technologies for buildings.

Among the first sandbox testing projects will be the application of differentiated day-night electricity tariffs for a number of household consumers, who will install smart meters, with the support of UNDP Moldova and Italy.