Short description of the overall project

€15 million loan to heating utility CET Nord under the EBRD Green Cities programme. Project supported by EBRD donors, including a €1 million GCF concessional and a €2 million grant from E5P. Financing to improve energy efficiency, district heating and hot water supply in Moldova’s second-largest city

Short description of activities financed by the donation

Citizens of Balti, Moldova’s second-largest city, will benefit from more efficient district heating thanks to a new €15 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to state-owned company CET Nord JSC.

The company provides district heating services to around 70 per cent of the city’s population, as well as to numerous public buildings and commercial entities.

The EBRD will provide a €14 million loan, alongside Green Climate Fund (GCF) financing of €1 million. The loan will be complemented by a €2 million grant from the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P) fund.

The investment will help alleviate legacy infrastructural issues and promote systemic decarbonisation. It will encourage a reduction in electricity imports, leading to better energy security and significant CO2 emission savings.

By enhancing the operational and energy efficiency of district heating with improved system controls, the project will enable the introduction of apartment-level, consumption-based billing to consumers and further optimise use of the city’s highly efficient combined heat and power plant.

Furthermore, by reducing gas consumption for space heating through better energy regulation, the project will help reinstate a supply of affordable centralised domestic hot water to consumers that was discontinued more than 20 years ago.

As part of the project, the EBRD and the GCF will help promote equal opportunities by supporting women’s participation in climate policy and technical roles, as well as by developing training courses and awareness on gender and climate change issues.

The EBRD’s Early Transition Countries (ETC) Fund also supported the project with technical cooperation for project preparation.

The new investment builds on the improvements achieved in the first phase of the project, completed in 2019, which resulted in a significant reduction in natural gas consumption, reduced CO2 emissions and better-quality district heating services.