The gas-fired Cuciurgan power station, the largest

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

, is located in

Transnistria Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie, is a Landlocked country, landlocked Transnistria conflict#International recognition of Transnistria, breakaway state internationally recogn ...

, on the shores of the

Cuciurgan Reservoir The Cuciurgan Reservoir () is a large water reservoir, built on Kuchurhan River on the state border between Ukraine and Moldova. The lake is located in the south-eastern part of the Left Bank of the Dniester of Moldova (''de facto'' under Trans ...

bordering

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. it generates over three quarters of Moldova's electricity. Commissioned in 1964, it formerly burned some coal and fuel oil.

Technical features

The power stations has installed capacity of 2,520 MW. It was originally fueled by

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine f ...

and

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

. The plant produces some 75% of Moldova's electricity needs. 51% owned by Inter RAO UES since 2005, in November 2008, Inter RAO UES and Moldelectrica signed an agreement to separate some power units in the power station from the

IPS/UPS The IPS/UPS (), also widely known as the Russian grid is a wide area synchronous transmission grid, the Russian Unified Power System (UPS; ) and the Integrated Power System (IPS; ) portion of the network being the national networks of Azerbaij ...

system and synchronize them with the

synchronous grid of Continental Europe The Continental Europe Synchronous Area (CESA), formerly known as the UCTE grid, is one of the largest synchronous electrical grids in the world, primarily operating in Europe. It is interconnected as a single phase-locked mains frequency el ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

through the 400 kV Kuchurhan–

Vulcănești Vulcănești (; ) is a town in Gagauzia, Moldova. The area of Vulcănești is the southern exclave of Gagauzia surrounded by the Cahul District (Moldova) and Odesa Oblast (Ukraine). One village-rail station also named Vulcănești, is administ ...

and Vulcănești–

Isaccea Isaccea () is a small town in Tulcea County, in Northern Dobruja, Romania, on the right bank of the Danube, 35 km north-west of Tulcea. According to the 2021 census, it has a population of 4,408. The town has been inhabited for thousands o ...

transmission lines.

Operation

The power station is operated by Moldavskaya GRES, a 100% subsidiary of Russian owned

Inter RAO UES Joint Stock Company Inter RAO UES (, short form: Inter RAO), traded as, is a diversified energy holding company headquartered in Moscow, Russia. Its business includes power and heat generation, electricity supply, international energy trading, e ...

. It is the largest power company in an area comprising

and southern

. The company exports power to Ukraine,

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It was privatized in 2004 by Transnistrian authorities, but official Moldova does not recognize this privatization.

Debt liability

The Cuciurgan power station owes an estimated $9 billion to Gazprom in 2022 as it has not paid for gas usage for over 15 years.

Planned termination of sales to Moldova

In November 2022 the power station ceased supplying Moldova with electricity after Russia reduced gas supplies. Recommenced in early 2023, by May 2023 Moldova announced it would no longer be buying electricity from the Cuciurgan power station once a high-voltage power line from Romania is installed, scheduled for 2025.

References

External links

Kuchurgan power station
on

Global Energy Monitor Global Energy Monitor (GEM) is a San Francisco–based non-governmental organization which catalogs fossil fuel and renewable energy projects worldwide. GEM shares information in support of clean energy and its data and reports on energy trend ...

{{Supertall chimneys, state=collapsed Companies of Transnistria Natural gas-fired power stations in Moldova Power stations built in the Soviet Union Inter RAO Chimneys in Moldova 1964 establishments in the Soviet Union