NEWS | Wednesday, 22 October 2008

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TWO YEARS WASTED

Two years have been wasted over wind power as Gonzi abandons ‘fantasy’ offshore farms, and drops government’s veto on near-shore and land farms

James Debono
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s announcement that the government is now opting for a near-shore wind farm at the Sikka l-Bajda reef stands in marked contrast with a decision taken in August 2006, which excluded “near-shore” wind farms in shallow water, in favour of an inexistent technology to develop wind farms in deeper waters.
Speaking at the PN general council last week, Resources Minister George Pullicino went as far as to drop the government’s veto on building wind turbines on land, a proposal which had been discarded two years ago.
The government’s U-turn vindicates the scepticism expressed two years ago by physicist Edward Mallia, who had said the decision to shelve near-shore farms in favour of a inexistent technology “was a way of saying that we are doing something even if in reality we are opting for a solution which cannot be considered realistic in the immediate future.”
In August 2006, the Malta Resources Authority issued calls for an expression of interest in offshore wind projects, despite fully knowing that the technology did not exist to operate such wind farms at the depths proposed by the MRA.
On that occasion the government excluded all sites less than 20 metres deep, including the Sikka l-Bajda reef.
Despite admissions that the technology was inexistent, the government claimed that the project would produce 9.5% of Malta’s energy consumption.

However, the government’s draft policy on renewable energy published in August 2006 not only excluded land-based wind farms because of “enormous visual and other impacts”, but pointed it out that the disadvantages of developing a near-shore wind farm at Sikka l-Bajda could outweigh its advantages.
The policy claimed that Sikka l-Bajda would produce 2.1% of Malta’s energy needs so the option was shelved “because of the impact of such a project on current economic activity.”
Now, more than two years later the Prime Minister is saying that a wind farm at Sikka l-Bajda can produce 4% of Malta’s energy needs: double the figure mentioned in the 2006 energy policy.
Instead the August 2006 policy had opted for large-scale offshore wind farms even if this involves “involves new emerging technology which is as yet unproven.”
Still, the government had ignored a previous report submitted by British consultants Mott MacDonald in 2005, which recommended the development of a land-based wind farm by 2010.
The report had identified Sikka l-Bajda as “the best site” for the development of an offshore wind farm, even if this site was deemed to compare poorly with similar wind farms in the North Sea.
According to the report the site is too close to the shoreline to benefit from long-term annual wind speed, and is too sheltered from prevailing northwest winds.
Mott Macdonald questioned the commercial viability of offshore wind farms in general, due to “the potentially higher costs of equipment, installation and operation and maintenance raises issues of commercial viability.”
It also deemed the development of wind farms in deeper waters “unlikely” due to the unavailability of the appropriate technology.
Hidden from public view for two years, the Mott Macdonald report was only tabled in parliament in May 2007 when former Resources Minister Ninu Zammit revealed that the government had discarded the recommendation for a land-based wind farm due to its environmental impact and because it would have only generated 1% of Malta’s energy needs.
Prior to its change of heart in 2006, the government had been intensely sceptical on the prospects of offshore wind farms. The Prime Minister went as far as to question the feasibility of any large-scale wind farms or solar energy farm in his 2005 budget speech.
“Although the government does not completely exclude the development of offshore wind farms, the volume of energy these can produce is minimal. Yet since technology in this sector is evolving fast, what is impossible today can become possible tomorrow,” Gonzi said.
But by August 2006, the government’s scepticism made way for a misplaced optimism on the prospects of a yet undeveloped technology.
Before the election, the Nationalist Party was confident enough to promise the generation of 10% of Malta’s energy from alternative sources by 2020.
But eight months later, the government has gone back to square one by dropping its veto on near-shore and land-based wind farms.
And according to George Pullicino, Malta will still have to wait another four to five years to see Malta’s first wind farm. Two-year waiting lists already exist for orders of the rotors needed at Sikka l-Bajda.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt

Gonzi’s wind farm
www.maltatoday.com.mt/2006/08/06/t5.html

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