Moldova energised a new high-voltage transmission line linking its electricity grid directly to Romania and the wider European network on Sunday, a step the government says reduces the country’s reliance on power routed through the breakaway Transnistria region.
The 400 kV Vulcănești–Chișinău line, about 158 kilometres long, was inaugurated at a substation outside Chișinău in the presence of President Maia Sandu, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, Energy Minister Dorin Junghietu and World Bank representatives, Moldovan news agency IPN reported. It links the Vulcănești substation in southern Moldova to the Chișinău substation, giving the country an additional route for electricity imported from Romania that avoids Transnistria.
A route that bypasses the Cuciurgan hub
The line is meant to reduce Moldova’s dependence on the Cuciurgan (MGRES) power hub on the left bank of the Dniester, controlled by the separatist authorities in Tiraspol, which has long supplied much of the electricity used on the right bank. With a capacity of up to 630 MVA, it can carry the equivalent of more than half of Moldova’s electricity consumption during peak demand, Radio Moldova reported.
“For decades, Moscow used energy to blackmail us,” Sandu wrote on X. “No more: Moldova buys zero Russian gas, and two more power lines to Romania are on the way.” At the ceremony she compared the line’s importance to that of the Iași–Ungheni–Chișinău gas pipeline, which gave Moldova an alternative supply route after Gazprom halted deliveries.
Kos said the project marked a turning point, telling reporters that “the Republic of Moldova’s dependence on Russian energy has truly come to an end.” She said the connection gives Moldova more options for buying electricity, while acknowledging that energy costs remain a burden for many households.
Delays and cost
The project cost about €61 million, financed through a World Bank loan approved in September 2019, with roughly €27 million spent on constructing the line itself, Mediafax added. First discussed in 2013, it was initially scheduled for completion in August 2024 but was delayed, in part by equipment and supply problems caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Construction of the line finished in November 2025, the Vulcănești substation in June 2026, and the Chișinău substation then entered testing.
Two more lines planned
Chișinău is preparing two further 400 kV interconnections with Romania. The Bălți–Suceava line, valued at about €77 million and backed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank and the European Union, is expected to begin construction in 2027; a contract for the Moldovan section was signed in June 2026 with the Turkish firm SA-RA. A second project, Strășeni–Gutinaș, will be built with a $130 million grant from the United States and has been named the “Trump Liberty Line”, Reuters reported.
Al Jazeera noted that Moldova’s parliament approved a state of emergency until November 20 to ease gas shortages amid high world energy prices, a reminder that moving away from Russian supplies still carries costs.
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