Enemalta chairman says generating renewable energy 'almost impossible'
The executive chairman of Enemalta Louis Giordimaina said it is “almost impossible” to produce energy through renewable resources in Malta due to its size.
18 May 2012, 12:00am
Jurgen Balzan
Jurgen Balzan
2 min read
Enemalta executive chairman Louis Giordimaina
The executive chairman of Enemalta Louis Giordimaina said it is "almost impossible" to produce energy through renewable resources in Malta. He said this while addressing the World Fuel Oil Summit held today in St Julian's.
Giordimaina stressed the importance of reducing Malta's dependence on oil while warning that Malta's small size, high population density and small footprint "makes exploitation of renewable energy sources extremely difficult, almost impossible."
Enemalta's executive chairman said the dependence on oil will be partly reduced by connecting Malta to the European energy grid through an interconnector. He noted that the project, which will see the installation of the longest AC cable in the world, is in the "approval phase."
"The interconnector will mean a better security of supply, new and independent geographical sources, lower emissions and offer Malta the opportunity to buy new and different types of power sources, including renewable energy," Giordimaina said. He added that the interconnector will be bi-directional and will have a maximum capacity of 200Mw.
Giordimaina said the corporation is currently studying the possibility of converting the Delimara power plant to gas and is looking at either interconnecting Malta to the European Natural Gas Network or importing Liquefied Natural Gas.
On the generation of energy through renewable energy sources, Giordimania said the government is in the process of identifying selected government owned buildings in order to install photovoltaic panels. He said the project should be completed by 2013 and will produce up to 50Mw of energy.
"Another source of renewable energy will be the 100Mw offshore wind farm at Sikka l-Bajda," he added. He also said that the government intends to make renewable energy infrastructure mandatory on new buildings.
Giordimaina said the Delimara power plant extension will be fully operational by the first week of July. He explained that the €164 million extension is now in the final testing phase while the gradual decommissioning of the old Marsa power station will also start simultaneously.
However, Giordimaina said the Marsa power station will be switched off completely when the interconnector cable between Malta and Sicily will be fully operational. The target date for the completion of the interconnector is end of 2013.
The Enemalta chairman described Malta's energy sector as "volatile" because of the size, the isolation from mainland Europea and the dependence on imported fuel. He went on to explain that currently energy in Malta is produced by fuel oil (88%) and gas oil (12%).
Giordimaino said the new extension in Delimara will produce 144Mw which will take the total energy produced by the Delimara plant to 488Mw. In his brief presentation, Giordimaina showed that Enemalta is projecting an annual 1% increase in demand from this year up to 2020.
Jurgen Balzan was a MaltaToday reported from 2011 to 2017.
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It is incredible what this government can feed to the international press. Read this:
Maltese Smart Grid Teaches Valuable Lessons : IBM’s recent successful implementation of infrastructure for a smart grid throughout the Mediterranean island country of Malta may provide important lessons for other countries seeking to lower energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The IBM smart grid system is interactive, allowing consumers to engage with data and change their electrical use in real-time. This smartphone application is linked with radio frequency for maximized engagement. With consumers actively managing their energy use, it may no surprise that consumption fell quite dramatically in the months since the technology was deployed.
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@ FD. " The answer was given by GonziPN by removing subsidies on electricity and diverting them on subsidies on PV panels co-funded by the ERDF from the EU". If GonziPN diverted all the subsides given in the 1980's on PV panels we would have Malta glazed with panels not the score that you see today. Every foreigner is surprised that we have not been able to make the best out of solar energy. Moreover with the funds from subsides GonziPN should not have a bankrupt EneMalta with debts well exceeding €600 and ranked as B+, an indication of EneMalta's insolvency. Under Labour government was able to pump subsides to leave families with a strong purchasing power to generate economic activity and through which only businesses benefitted. What you fail to mention is that notwithstanding the subsides given on electricity and water amongst others, all public corporation flourished, employed hundreds of people and were never in the red. Look at the balance sheets of Freeport, Waterservices, EneMalta, AirMalta, and anything that is ran by the selected few and you will realise how these enterprises have been running in the red for years. But it is fine as long as it is a PN administration.
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This was signed from the back of all Maltese people, without fleasibility study on how the cost of consumption will be to the Maltese families...
http://www.earthtechling.com/2012/03/malta-to-get-state-of-the-art-floating-wind-farm-from-hexicon/
http://www.hexicon.eu/
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The PN should provide us with an explanation why it derailed this project which was launched under Mintoff's administration
The PN dropped the project because it could NEVER be feasable to have hot water at a cost which was less than the subsidized price of electricity running on fuel costing $30 a barrel!
The answer was given by GonziPN by removing subsidies on electricity and diverting them on subsidies on PV panels co-funded by the ERDF from the EU.
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Blessed by the sun and impossible to generate renewable energy? If each and every building has to have photovoltaic panels Malta would save millions of euros every year; that a good star.
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Kien ikun ferm ahjar li kieku s-sur Giordimaina qalilna jekk hux veru li l-MAFIA fi Sqallija hadet taht idejha l-artijiet kollha minn fejn irid jghaddi l-pipeline fi Sqallija biex l-energija tasal lejn Malta u qed titlob somom fantastici biex thalli li jsir l-uzu ta' din l-art. DIN HI R-RAGUNI LI DAN IL-PROGETT WEHEL WAHDA SEW - imma l-ebda bravu qatt ma jsemmiha din.
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Kien ikun ferm ahjar li kieku s-sur Giordimaina qalilna jekk hux veru li l-MAFIA fi Sqallija hadet taht idejha l-artijiet kollha minn fejn irid jghaddi l-pipeline fi Sqallija biex l-energija tasal lejn Malta u qed titlob somom fantastici biex thalli li jsir l-uzu ta' din l-art. DIN HI R-RAGUNI LI DAN IL-PROGETT WEHEL WAHDA SEW - imma l-ebda bravu qatt ma jsemmiha din.
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The project you are referring to was a joint venture with the Austrian government. It ran for eight years and was involving the University of Malta in research. It was a milestone on solar energy research and one of the first in the Mediterranean. But the PN were always mocking this project. There are scores of articles in the Nazzjon Taghna doing so. The first thing that the incoming 1987 PN government did was to close down this project. Now 25 years later, the current PN administration has turned a complete circle on solar energy and has applied for EU funds to help both individuals and industry to install solar panels. The PN should provide us with an explanation why it derailed this project which was launched under Mintoff's administration
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"He noted that the project, which will see the installation of the longest AC cable in the world, is in the "approval phase." Let us not continue to take the Maltese public for a ride. This project is part of the EU's trans European energy network as announced by the Commission a year and a half ago. The Commission study Wants to connect the four corners of the European space and came out with the idea, is pushing it, and will be funding the project. So why not the authorities give the whole picture rather than bits and pieces of information to make everything appear as if it is GonziPN's brainwave?
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With chairmen like these no wonder we have never had any serious investment and investigation on renewable energy sources. During Labour in the 1980's there was an Austrian-Maltese project on renewable energy research, but when PN came to power everything was scrapped.
Luke Camilleri •
“almost impossible”.... u li wieghed Gonzi "Flimkien kollox possibli" ????????????????
