City mayors team up to boost solar energy projects in their countries

March 19, 2019

Mayors from eight countries team up to boost urban solar energy projects and citizens involvement in the transition to green energy, part of an initiative launched by UNDP Moldova. They signed the Solar Mayors Charter, an international declaration of Mayors pushing for the adoption of solar powers in urban environment, during the Solar Cities event which took place in Lisbon on March 18th-19th.

The event is part of an initiative aimed to connect local governments, civic actors, private sector and citizens around clean energy production and financing, so as tackle emerging technologies such as blockchain for solar energy.

“The achievement of SDG 7, affordable and clean energy is hardly achievable without consistent engagement with mayors, citizens and private sector. This is the reason why UNDP Moldova, in partnership with other countries, has launched the Solar Mayors Club, where mayors have signed a charter to commit to solar energy transition,” notes Dumitru Vasilescu, UNDP Moldova Policy Analyst.

The event was attended by city mayors, civic actors, and representatives of energy crowdfunding platforms from Moldova, Serbia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Croatia, Somalia, Lebanon and Portugal.

This initiative is managed by UNDP Moldova, in partnership with the Citizenergy, the European aggregator of all sustainable energy crowdfunding platforms and Energy Cities Europe’s largest Association of local authorities for energy transition. The project is co-funded by the UNDP’s Global Innovation Facility.

“About 74% of the used energy resources in Moldova are imported. Under such circumstances, the issues of dependence from external sources, energy security and the costs of energy resources shall be at the top of priorities within the framework of sustainable development of the country and the municipality of Chisinau,” says Ruslan Codreanu, interim mayor of Chisinau, one of the attendees of the Solar Cities event.

Although Moldova is a country with high solar energy potential, it has experienced limited development of solar PV in recent years. Only 50-plus small projects, mostly rooftop solar, have been implemented during the last five years, mostly in Chisinau, with a cumulative capacity of almost 4MW. Solar PV could provide up to 4.5GW of capacity in Moldova.