Postcard to Castille

A correction and a reality check are needed in the article Wind Farm Project To Be Launched Soon (March 15).

To quote: "The government would invest in a wind farm 32 kilometres out at sea capable of producing between 75 and 100 MW of clean energy. This will amount to 20 per cent of Malta's energy needs".

Malta's peak electricity demands are just under 400MW today. The wind farm project's 75 to 100 MW rating is peak installed capacity, power output at maximal optimum wind velocity. In that regard, peak wind farm output equates to around 20 per cent of peak demand. Demand and wind farm output would rarely coincide. One must take into consideration that our land-based power stations cannot respond fast enough to the variability experienced with wind energy. Connecting everything to the European electricity grid mitigates this problem. Greater capacity connections than publicly announced (200MVA) would be looking into the future beyond a mere 20 years.

Claiming that such a medium-sized wind farm "will amount to 20 per cent of Malta's energy needs" is totally erroneous. This claim will lead to political and public complacency towards the need for significantly greater investment in energy security from renewable sources of energy. Even in The Draft Renewable Energy Policy for Malta Report - 2006, it is stated that a 100MW deep offshore wind farm would provide only 9.5 per cent of energy demand at 2010 levels. In my view this is rather optimistic and assumes that the utilisation factor is around 30 per cent. Twenty to 25 per cent utilisation is more realistic. This means that a 100MW wind farm would supply only 7.3 per cent of Malta's yearly energy needs at 2010 levels. The year 2010 is now quite irrelevant. 2010 was the target date set by the above-mentioned report, in which we were to achieve five per cent of Malta's energy needs from renewable sources.

This date is irrelevant because if we continue to insist on deep offshore, the technology will still be untried by then and more importantly, heavy global demand for wind turbines has resulted in a waiting time to delivery of over two years.

By the end of 2010, half way through the current legislature, we will still be at less than half a percentage point of energy coming from renewable energy sources (mostly rooftop solar water heaters), oil will be approaching $200 a barrel and Europe may be in a diplomatic disagreement with the new Russian President.

Please Prime Minister, start considering near offshore wind farms and we shall recuperate lost time. I raise my hand and declare that I have no objection to having several score 2.5MW wind turbines in full view of our promenades. I appeal to readers to decide if they prefer to experience energy interruptions and electricity price hikes or a sea view with a wind farm. Raise your hand too and let the new government know what you prefer. Send a postcard to Castille.