The government has decided to link Malta's electricity grid to Sicily's together with a gas pipeline as energy provider Enemalta grapples with growing demand, aging plants and strict environmental obligations.
A detailed report outlining the country's power generation plan until 2015, unveiled yesterday, shows that Enemalta will have to invest some Lm195 million in infrastructure projects.
With the existing generating plant, Enemalta will only just meet the expected demand by 2010 and will be left with no reserve capacity.
The Sicily electricity cable has been on the cards for some years with preliminary studies showing a price tag of about Lm55 million, 80 per cent of which may be financed by the EU. The government is also planning a gas pipeline to the neighbouring island at a cost of Lm65 million.
Investments Minister Austin Gatt said the advantages of connecting Malta to Sicily by far outweighed the disadvantages.
Among others, Malta could satisfy at least some of the obligations regarding renewable electricity generation by buying renewable energy generated overseas. Furthermore, the large interconnected European electricity grids are extremely stable when compared with island systems.
The average age of the steam turbines at Marsa power station is 45 years and the boilers have been in operation between 19 and 37 years. At Delimara the two steam units are 14 years old, more than half way through their lifespan.
Based on the expected growth in demand, the report says that reserve capacity available after the summer of next year will be less than 60 MW, which means that a fault in one of the large units during the summer would result in a shortfall in generation capacity resulting in potential power outages over large areas.
The Delimara steam plant is planned for decommissioning by 2020 or earlier. A new site would then be required for the replacement plant and since this is unlikely to be found, the only solutions are either to build new plant at Marsa or replace part of the generation by means of an electric cable interconnection, the report explains.
It says that the least expensive electricity is achieved by using gas-fired Combined Cycle Gas Turbines. However, it is unlikely that natural gas will be available in Malta before 2012 - 2015.
Like other countries, Malta has to abide by several environment commitments including the National Emissions Ceiling Directive. These emission limits are expected to become even tighter in future, Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter said.
Unless emissions from the steam plant at Marsa power station are reduced to below the established limits by January 2008, the plant will only be allowed to operate for 20,000 hours and will be forced to shut down by April 2010 at the present rate of operation.
If funds for the planned projects are not made available within the required timeframes, then they will be inevitably delayed, with the consequence of either not meeting the forecast peak load demand or not meeting the plant decommissioning targets and therefore risking EU penalties.
Dr Gatt could not say when the Malta-Sicily connections might be in place. He was not however discouraged by the seemingly astronomical figures of the investment needed. He told reporters the government has submitted several projects to the EU to tap its Structural Funds. Besides, the minister did not discount the possibility of private companies investing in the country's grid.