Electricity consumption continues to shoot up

The fuel surcharge and educational campaigns to cut down on energy waste appear to have had little effect, with statistics showing that electricity consumption again increased last year.

Enemalta produced 2,266 gigawatt hours of power in the year ending September 2007, up from 2,261 GWh for the same period in 2006. The rise in consumption is expected to continue with statistics obtained by The Sunday Times showing the monthly generated power between October and December to be the highest in the past eight years.

The National Allocation Plan, drawn up by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, shows that Mater Dei hospital is set to consume an additional 73 GWh per year; the first phase of Smart City will demand another 43.8 GWh, going up to 87.6 GWh from 2010. Electricity demand in Malta has increased significantly during the past 15 years. A report drawn up by the Malta Resources Authority shows that consumption is estimated to increase from 2.26 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2005 to 3.29 TWh in 2020. Summer monthly generated power has been exceeding that of the winter months since 2001, and the peak demand last summer exceeded that recorded in 1996 by 63 per cent. Analysts who spoke with The Sunday Times said that such a hike is attributable to increased use of air-conditioning both in the domestic and commercial sectors.

From this year, Malta could face hefty fines if it exceeds the emissions limit imposed on its two power stations according to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. The penalty is €100 (Lm42.93) per tonne of CO2 emitted from the power stations over and above the amount allocated by the EU - which would work out at around €410 million (Lm176m) between 2008 and 2012. "Why haven't any drastic measures been taken, for example, to introduce mandatory building insulation standards and minimum standards for imported air-conditioners?" an energy expert, who preferred to remain unnamed, asked. The discrepancy between summer and spring peak is increasing, so Enemalta will have to invest in more generating capacity to meet the peak summer demand.

One analyst said that people were still not educated enough to use electricity wisely, thanks partly to "sporadic" campaigns. There has never been a planned and coherent national energy and water-saving campaign and there is general ignorance on basic energy-saving measures.

Some experts believe that electricity subsidies for heavy industry are actually disincentivising energy efficiency or the promotion of widespread use of renewables. Malta has one of the highest costs of electricity generation worldwide, with 60 per cent of its potable water supply coming from an energy-intensive process.

The analyst said it was also time for Enemalta to revise the subsidies it grants to heavy industry and instead push for more alternative energies and energy-efficiency investments. In the UK, a small surcharge was imposed on industry, and the money raised was used to pay consultants to carry out free audits in companies and provide advice on energy-saving measures.

The fund was also used to provide soft loans for the same companies to make investments in line with the recommendations arising from the energy audit. The result is that the UK managed to slash electricity consumption at national level.

Forecast of electrical energy consumption

Year Generation - MWh
2008 2,507,145
2009 2,625,145
2010 2,693,145
2011 2,781,145
2012 2,859,145
2013 2,937,145
2014 3,015,145
2015 3,093,145
2016 3,133,145
2017 3,173,145
2018 3,213,145
2019 3,253,145
2020 3,293,145
Source: Enemalta 2006