The nationwide power failure of Good Friday could be a taste of things to come, if Malta fails to gets the cable with Sicily ready by 2012. James Debono analyses Malta’s precarious energy supply
It is an established fact that Malta’s current power stations will be unable to cope with a staggering 33% increase in its peak electricity demand, which is set to rise from 411 MW in 2008, to 550 MW in 2015.
With Mater Dei Hospital already consuming 10 MW, and Pender Place, MIDI and Smart City set to consume an additional 52 MW by 2015, quenching Malta’s energy thirst will be a major challenge for any government elected in 2013.
But much depends on the ability of the present administration to meet the very tight deadlines for closing the Marsa power station, building the new Delimara plant and connecting Malta to the European grid.
For if these deadlines are not met in time, rather than becoming a centre of excellence Malta risks facing the bleak scenario envisioned in the Environment Impact Assessment for the Delimara power station: that Enemalta will have to resort to load shedding, which effectively means that “not all consumers are provided with an electric supply all the time and that energy will be directed to where it is most needed.”
Yet even the extension of the new Delimara power station will not be able to satiate the national demand, should Malta honour its EU commitment and close down the Marsa power station.
Short on projections For by 2015, when the Marsa Power Station will be well past its expiry date, Malta will still be 111 megawatts short of its projected 550 MW peak energy demand.
Studies show that while the Marsa power station is currently generating 230MW, the new Delimara extension will only produce 144MW: leaving the country with a combined power generation of 439MW, and a massive shortfall.
To compound matters it is extremely probable that the government will have to close the Marsa power station well before the 2015 deadline. Marsa has already used up over half its available hours of operation, and at the present rate will have to be shut down earlier than the 2015 deadline, possibly as soon as 2012, figures recently presented in parliament show.
The four units at the Marsa power station have already used 11,403, 10,585, 11,095 and 13,229 hours respectively, At this rate, the remaining hours will only permit another two years of operation, which means the plant would have to shut down in 2012 rather than 2015.
The 20,000-hour limit on the power station’s operations, set by the EU’s Large Combustion Plant Directive, is aimed at stemming emissions of hazardous substances that can adversely affect human health. Malta would face stiff penalties if it fails to honour the directive.
But if Malta does not regress to total darkness after the closure of Marsa, it will only be thanks to a cable connecting Malta to the European energy grid.
The electrical link to the Sicilian grid is expected to be completed by the end of 2012. If this deadline is respected, the government will be able to honour its EU commitment to close Marsa down.
But according to the Environmental Impact Statement on the Delimara power station extension, work on the grid can only start after parliamentary and regulatory approval in both Italy and Malta.
The study considers the cable link and the new power station as “essential and complimentary” for a secure supply of energy after the Marsa power station is closed, and goes on to state that it will be impossible to cater for the energy shortfall caused by the decommissioning of the Marsa station. Malta has been granted €20 million in EU funds for the Malta-Sicily grid after EU ministers approved a €4 billion energy package, derived from the unspent portion of the EU budget.
But even the grid connection could pose new uncertainties, to the extent that the Enemalta professionals’ union has warned that the whole nation will plunge into darkness in the event of a cable fault. To avoid such a risk, Enemalta is studying the possibility of installing two cables capable of delivering 200MW each, and set one kilometre apart to ensure that if one cable sustains damage, the other cable will be able to supply the necessary load.
The inclusion of a second cable would mean Malta will spend €300 million.
Renewable energy Malta is also obliged to meet 10% of its energy requirements from renewable energy sources by 2020. In this way the country will be less reliant on its power stations for its electric supply.
In a report submitted to the EU, Malta forecasts it will reach 9.2% of its 10% mandatory renewable energy target by 2020. But the MRA stresses that the forecast is based on an “optimistic scenario”.
Once again Malta might well have missed the boat when it excluded the development of near-shore and terrestrial wind farms in 2006, when it opted for the yet-to-be developed deepwater wind farms.
The policy was only reversed last year, when the government finally opted for the construction of a near-shore wind farm in Sikka l-Bajda and two smaller terrestrial wind farms in Bahrija and Hal Far.
Considering that there is a lack of construction-supporting vehicles in the international market, and that developers tend to prioritise larger projects which have greater economies of scale, it is doubtful whether this project will be completed in time.
Another blow to the development of renewable energy was a policy enacted in 2005, which allowed the development of penthouses on three-storey apartments.
This resulted in a situation where most apartment residents have no adequate roof space where they can install solar water heaters or photovoltaic plants.
Another problem marking the energy sector is the lack of planning. Malta will not have an official energy policy until early next year as the current draft document is being subjected to an Environment Impact Assessment as required by EU law.
Effectively, this means that all major decisions like the use of Heavy Fuel Oil in the new Delimara extension are being taken in the absence of a comprehensive energy policy. The lack of planning could be symptomatic of the fact that Malta still lacks a Minister directly responsible for energy in the same way as other EU countries like the UK and Denmark.
In Malta the energy portfolio is now divided between George Pullicino’s Resources Ministry, which spearheads initiatives connected to renewable energy, and an overburdened Ministry of Finance: which took over Enemalta from former Minister Austin Gatt in the wake of the Auditor General’s investigation of the BWSC tender.
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Search:
MALTATODAY
BUSINESSTODAY
Download MaltaToday Sunday issue front page in pdf file format
