Secure grid connection

In response to my article on future electricity requirements, Prof. Albert Cilia Vincenti wrote (The Sunday Times, March 9): "Commenting on the Government's plans to cable connect to the European electricity grid, Ms Zammit tries to knock this by suggesting unreliability and insecurity of supply."

In fact the source of this suggestion is Enemalta's generation plan for 2006-2015, which states:

"The large interconnected European electricity grids are extremely stable when compared with island systems which may improve system reliability locally.

However recent experience has shown that in times of localised energy shortages, each country puts its national interests above that of overseas contractual obligations which could impact on the reliability and security of supply, especially during periods of concurrent peak demand." The Enemalta document goes on to recommend backing up any grid connection with alternative supplies:

"It is also not good practice to rely on electric cables for supply without having a back-up generating plant available in case of interruption of supply due either to a fault (land cables, converter stations, sub-marine cables) or other reasons. Hence for security of supply reasons, a cable interconnection needs to be backed up by alternative sources of supply."

Regarding an error on the environment page concerning actual savings from switching off standby appliances, and in relation to photovoltaic panels proposed for the Arka respite care centre in Gozo, any inconvenience to the Institute of Energy Technology is regretted. If the Malta Resources Authority is given some teeth under the new ministry then the aims of IET may be better achieved.