Does Malta need three power sources?

Before the election Labour made two promises: reducing electricity bills and converting the existing BWSC plant from dirty heavy fuel oil to cleaner natural gas.

It is the second promise which may return to haunt Labour.

This is because the impression given before the election was that the conversion was to be financed by the new company chosen to deliver the new gas infrastructure. 

But the expensive conversion was not included in the deal with ElectroGas.

Subsequently the government announced that it was Shanghai Electric Power, which was to convert the BWSC plant after taking ownership of the plant. The cost of the conversion is estimated to be between €60-€70 million.

The problem is that the government is not only committed to buy energy from ElectroGas but the new plant has to be operated at near full capacity so as not to lose efficiency.

Of the two power plants, it is the BWSC plant be sold to the Chinese company, which offers the greatest amount of flexibility.

Since the plant has separate engines, one or more engines can be switched off without a loss of efficiency in the remainder of the plant.

On the other hand the ElectroGas plant is less flexible as it would start losing efficiency as soon as production drops below 180 MW.

The interconnector’s flexibility will depend on the type of generator which will be feeding the cable, but it does have the advantage of being owned by Enemalta, which could give Enemalta more say in varying the power it gets from the IC.

Moreover using solely the ElectroGas plant can cater for energy demand at night between January and June. This effectively means shutting off both the interconnector and the BWSC plant at night.

ElectroGas on its own can also cater for a significant part of energy demand on a typical day in spring and autumn.

How three power plants will cater for energy demand

“The Chinese are going in for an expensive conversion of the BWSC plant to gas. I am sure they are not going to sit by while BWSC works for a few hours a day,” physicist and energy expert Edward Mallia told MaltaToday.

What is sure is that having the three power sources – the Malta-Sicily interconnector, the Shanghai Electric plant and the new ElectroGas plant – working at full power will create an energy surplus even in periods of peak demand.

In none of the scenarios is the use of the three plants at full power required.

The only scenario where the interconnector and the BWSC plant will be expected to provide a significant amount of energy is in peak summer days. But while the new infrastructure can provide 550 MW of energy (renewables excluded), the maximum energy demand ever registered in Malta between 2003 and 2012 was 434 MW in July 2007. Surely having a surplus of energy supply will help Malta have a spare capacity of energy in case  one of the plants breaks down, something which is required by EU directives.  But Malta's spare capacity is already partly catered for by 110 MW which can be produced by  the Delimara phase 2 plant which will be on stand by.

Moreover the crux of the matter is whether Malta will be contractually bound to buy more energy than it needs.  Therefore it all boils to the flexibility the government will have in determining the amount of energy bought from Shanghai Electric Power and the Malta Sicily Interconnector.

Mallia warns that engineering flexibility may count for nothing if one of the three owners demands that the full output from his device must be sold to Enemalta. It has already been hinted, if never explicitly stated, that Enemalta has contracted to buy all the electricity generated by the Electrogas CCGT.  

This is why “full details of the operational contracts are vital”, according to Edward Mallia.

In parliament Konrad Mizzi declared that the government had no obligation on the volume of electricity it intends to buy from the Shanghai Electric Power.

But according to Mallia this declaration needs to be carefully qualified, especially because Mizzi’s first explanation for the delay was pending discussions with Shanghai Electric on the operation of the BWSC plant.

Can the surplus energy be exported?

The prospect of exporting energy will depend on the contract signed for the Malta Sicily Interconnector and other technical details related to its construction.

“What is certain is that it cannot be stored. If it cannot be exported it would not be produced in the first place,” says Mallia.

In an article penned last month Mallia linked the decision to abandon wind energy in favour of solar energy to the over-abundance of energy Malta will have at night.

“The sun, it was said, shines during the day (surprise, surprise); the wind blows at night and the power at night quite frequently slips below 200 MW. But with the proposed 200MW gas turbine, which cannot be turned down to deliver less than 180MW without loss of efficiency, the Sicily interconnector and the BWSC contribution, we do not need any help from wind.”

But can Malta still make it to achieve its 10% renewable energy target from solar energy and biomass?

Mallia is mildly optimistic.

“The recent heavy push on photovoltaic energy is responsible for statements that for the first time Malta has reached an interim target,” he said.

“But reaching an interim target can be an empty boast because you may have given it your best shot just to reach your interim target and be left with little or nothing in the tank”.