Second Sustainable Transition Through Energy Efficiency for Moldova Project

pipeline

The proposed project would primarily consist of the structuring and implementation of an Energy Efficiency Fund managed by CNED, to finance Energy Efficiency in public buildings. As a second objective, the project would pilot and operationalize revolving mechanism. The purpose would be to create a vehicle through which public buildings could benefit from energy-efficient rehabilitations in a financially sustainable manner by ensuring the savings generated by the EE upgrades support EE measures in new buildings. This could be done either through Energy Service Agreements (ESAs) or through budgetary arrangements. This is in line with the Government of Moldova's priorities. Given its nature, the project could allow for co-investment from trust funds, other members of the World Bank Group, and other donors to directly fund activities or capacity-building. Discussions are proposed to be had with various stakeholders to identify such opportunities and would impact whether the project can be tagged for MFD and PCE.Component 1: Policy and regulatory support (US$5 million – TBC). This component will provide the legal and advisory support necessary to support CNED in the creation of the EE fund and lay the foundations for a revolving mechanism and will consist of the structuring and capacity building of a the Energy Efficiency fund for public buildings, including but not limited to: i) The design of the investment strategy, procurement of necessary personnel, financial engineering, legislative framework, and stakeholder sensitization; ii) The operationalization of the fund, which would provide a comprehensive package of services to identify, conduct walkthrough and detailed energy audits, provide accompanying E&S measures, finance, procure, implement, and monitor energy efficiency projects for clients; and, iii) Complement ongoing regulatory and legal reforms, supported by Expertise France, to create conditions necessary to sustainably finance EE rehabilitations, particularly the use of Energy Service Agreements (ESAs) and enabling the revolving financing mechanism.Component 2: Energy efficiency and renewable energy investments in public buildings (US$40 million – TBC). This component will consist of the investments and ancillary measures for the energy-efficient rehabilitation measures of buildings. It would consist of the selection, verification of eligibility of criteria, and energy-efficient retrofitting of number of buildings focusing on central authority buildings.Component 3: Technical assistance and project management (US$5 million - TBC). This component will finance (i) supervision consultants; (ii) ME and project accounts’ audit; and (iii) capacity building for relevant agencies and stakeholders. This component is expected to improve market maturity for future EE rehabilitation projects as a result of improved human capital.