Readers with an internet connection are invited to visit www.bpsolar.com which offers a full service to Californians who decide to become their own energy suppliers. I surfed through the site with envy and found myself writing to the petroleum giant to enquire why they have no interest in Malta.
In fact, Malta is simply omitted from the list of countries in the website form dropdowns. Perhaps BP has shaken the dust from its sandals as far as Malta is concerned. Chances are it has no time to spare for a place that cannot see further than the end of its nose. We have all the qualifications to be a renewable energy showcase. If it has not happened so far, it probably never will. With the mega-corporation taking a leading interest in renewable energy, it is a great pity.
The interest of such a world corporation could make Maltese authorities sit up and take notice instead of being the eternal abominable no-men in anything eco-friendly. For years we had been told that the average wind speed in Malta is not enough to sustain investment in wind energy. Now it transpires that the only issue holding things up is the establishment of a buying rate by Enemalta and the selection of a site.
One Maltese entrepreneur estimates that by covering the roof of the Corradino sports facility with photo-voltaic panels he could supply a village the size of Zejtun. We have known for years that one fifth of domestic consumption of electricity goes to water heating and that it can be substituted by simple solar collectors. Only the dogged persistence of solar water heater importers keeps them in business. They have never had a nod of encouragement from the government. Why does nothing of the sort ever happen?
It is not for a lack of ideas: one Maltese engineer is keen to exploit bio-gas resources such as manure from chicken farms and dairy farms. It is a very simple technology used abroad in the rural areas of less developed countries to supply heating, cooling, lighting and cooking fuel. Once the manure is processed it remains available for use in agriculture and the bio-gas plant can be combined with the new requirement to provide effective silage for stored manure.
With the price of oil heading for $50 per barrel it is time for us all to regret having allowed so many excellent ideas to sit uselessly on our doorstep. Nobody seems to know what our national energy strategy is all about. My newspaper cuttings on the issue are a collage of contradictory statements: pipedreams interspersed with bubble-bursting and EU commitments belied by the nothingness of the facts.
A few years ago it appeared that a wet blanket was placed on all renewable energy ideas because the country was expected to tap into a gas pipeline between Libya and Italy accessing a cheap source of energy. Before that it was the hope of finding oil in Gozo. Energy is big money and big projects are more attractive than many little ones. The matter of lots of money all in one place always wins over hundreds if not thousands of people making money for themselves.
In California householders are offered the chance to generate their own electricity from the sun selling any surplus to the power utilities over the grid. In daytime their electricity meters run in the opposite direction earning them a credit instead of running up their bills. It could have been done in Malta long ago. The technology has been around for years. Malta does not get its oil any cheaper than California.
It is true that Malta has an isolated grid and a very small one: a surplus of renewable energy at a time of low demand will not allow Enemalta the saving available to the operators of more flexible grids having the option to sell surpluses to their neighbours. It is much harder for a small system to adjust to the fluctuations in supply from wind and solar plants.
It is probably impossible at this time for Enemalta to deal with the intricacy of buying and selling energy, dealing with hundreds of persons who are both consumers and generators. Its administrative incapacity is a serious hurdle. Adding the variations of different rates to accommodate peak needs would add to its difficulties. It would be a special advantage for bio-gas production which can be timed to match peaks day or night.
Nothing is impossible. In every place where renewable energy has taken off a variety of incentives and regulations are in place. It is this framework that is missing in Malta. Only the absence of rules and regulations leave us bottom of the list in this field. The technology and the know-how are present. The entrepreneurship is there. The political will absconded long ago.
It takes unsinkable optimism to pursue such ideas in this climate. It is not the heat that does it. Israel and Cyprus are leaders in the field. Sicily and Malta are nowhere. It is a matter of political vision. Now that oil prices have risen to giddy heights it will not be only Greens who recognise the strategic importance of having other options.
A country that uses over a tenth of its energy generation to produce half its drinking water should not have had to wait for a crisis. Denmark decided it would invest in renewable energy sources during the great oil crisis in the 1970s. Today wind energy technology is its major export. It aims to exceed EU requirements as far as the proportion of renewable energy generated is concerned. Malta is still waffling about how it will make up its quota.
Behind the scenes studies are afoot exploring incineration techniques with waste-to-energy being used as used as a PR cosmetic to disguise the uglier side of things. For both our rivals it has the attraction of appearing to kill two birds with one stone: disposing of the waste mountain and recovering some energy. It is also another big-money-all-in-one-place project.
Once more we are back to the stage where we are being deviated from the immediate target. Once it was an extension to the power station that would fulfil all our energy needs for all time to come, then it was oil exploration, then the gas pipeline, now it is incineration. Proper renewable energy technology remains a Cinderella.
There is no time left for such dithering. Establishing the conditions to permit renewable energy entrepreneurs to get on with the job is the first priority. There should be no prioritising among the various technologies. Once a purchase price is fixed anybody with electricity to sell should be allowed to take his or her own business risks with the technology they prefer. Does anybody know what the Malta Resources Authority with its excellent technical staff is doing about all this apart from paying a phenomenal rent for their premises in Marsa?
The oil crisis combined with the country's economic woes should be exploited fully. They present a unique opportunity to persuade our fossils-in-office to do something other than stare in fright at the price of fossil fuels. There is a virgin field in alternative fuels for transport, in alternative transport systems, in energy saving by providing an energy audit system for homes and businesses. We have a bio-diesel entrepreneur. Why do we not have a system ensuring the collection of every last drop of used cooking oil that is its raw material? It is never too late to get something right at last. All we need is the energy to unleash the energy available.
Dr Vassallo is chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party.
harry.vassallo@alternattiva.org