Cuciurgan power station
Administrative-Territorial Units of the Left Bank of the Dniester, Moldova
The 253rd largest power station in the world
The gas-fired Cuciurgan power station (Russian: Молдавская ГРЭС, romanized: Moldovskaya GRES), the largest power station in Moldova, is in Transnistria, on the shores of the Cuciurgan Reservoir bordering Ukraine. In 2024 it generated over three quarters of Moldova's electricity. Commissioned in 1964, it formerly burned some coal and fuel oil. In 2025, Russia stopped supplying the power plant with gas, leading to the 2025 Moldovan energy crisis.
The power stations has installed capacity of 2,520 MW. It was originally fueled by natural gas, fuel oil and coal. 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 system and synchronize them with the Continental Europe Synchronous Area in Romania through the 400 kV Kuchurhan–Vulcănești and Vulcănești–Isaccea transmission lines.
The power station is operated by Moldavskaya GRES, a 100% subsidiary of Russian owned Inter RAO UES. It is the largest power company in an area comprising Moldova and southern Ukraine. The company exports power to Ukraine, Romania and Russia. It was privatized in 2004 by Transnistrian authorities, but official Moldova does not recognize this privatization. On 31 December 2024, at 19:50 EET (17:50 UTC), Moldova's unrecognized breakaway region of Transnistria stopped receiving natural gas supplies from Russia when Ukraine's gas transit deal with Russia expired. Historically, Transnistria had covered most of Moldova's electricity needs through the Cuciurgan power station, which functioned with Russian gas supplied to Transnistria for free. However, with the termination of Russian gas supplies to Transnistra and the end of Moldovan purchases of Transnistrian electricity, the possibility of a humanitarian crisis in Transnistria has risen. Three people have died in Transnistria since the start of the energy crisis due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Electricity prices have also risen significantly in Moldova.
Power station data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).