Students in Chisinau may switch online during outages
Chișinău is preparing for possible power outages; authorities may move students online amid the energy emergency following the shutdown of the Isaccea–Vulcănești line, Mayor Ion Ceban said after a CSE meeting on March 24.
According to the mayor, the municipality will apply nationally recommended measures but requests advance notice of possible power outages to respond promptly in areas such as public transport, street lighting, traffic signals, and the operation of hospitals, water pumping systems, elevators, and other risk-prone infrastructure.
In the event of outages or energy-saving measures, the municipality may propose switching students to online learning to reduce consumption, including when trolleybus services are limited or temporarily suspended.
Residents are urged to follow official information from central authorities, while Chișinău City Hall will communicate all decisions and actions as the situation evolves.
We remind that Parliament, at the Government’s request, declared a 60-day state of emergency in the energy sector starting March 25, due to risks caused by Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which disabled the Isaccea–Vulcănești line, one of the country’s main power sources.
The Isaccea–Vulcănești line was taken out of service following the bombing of the Ukrainian energy system on the evening of March 23. The consequences were immediate: imports from Romania were practically interrupted; the system had to be reconfigured in an emergency mode; there was a risk of a significant deficit during peak hours.
After the damage, four 110 kV lines were activated across the Prut, as well as imports through Ukraine, through the line from the Dnestrovsk hydroelectric power plant. However, these solutions are limited.
The 110 kV lines have limited capacity and can only supply certain areas in the west of the country, unable to support national-level consumption. Also, the 330 kV line from Dnestrovsk has a lower capacity than the 400 kV and cannot cover the entire deficit.
