Friday, 9th May 2008
Wind blowing good
Wind energy is a comparatively low-tech business. In money terms it has become big business with the major operators rapidly going global in the backwash of the oil price tsunami. The days of Mop and Pop operations begging for attention from banks and governments are gone for good. Oil companies and national energy generators have entered the field, first granting added legitimacy to the pioneers and then buying them out. It's not a conspiracy, it's a process. The wind energy generation market can only get bigger and bigger.
Meanwhile, the basics remain the same. For every site the wind energy potential is predetermined. Some sites are better than others but their energy generation potential will remain the same subject only to improvements in technology. Wind energy is a natural resource, renewable but with limitations. The energy potential of any given area will not change.
The best sites in all of Malta's 315 square kilometres are well documented. Various assessments of other available sites have been made and the limitations noted. The government has determined its policy on the basis of inputs from its various agencies excluding land-based turbines, indeed banishing them to an offshore location many miles out to sea.
It is possible to set up a wind turbine anywhere. They are not sited everywhere simply because it does not make economic sense to place them where the cost will eliminate the returns.
Nobody except the Maltese government has thought of siting them miles out to sea in depths of 90 metres. In effect, the Maltese government's policy is a yes which means no.
With crude oil prices spiking to $120 a barrel, even the Maltese government's stonewalling will have to give sooner or later. Its published policy is based on a document more than 10 years old. Chances are that its revision has already been done. If not, it must be imminent.
Major wind energy operators seeking new investments have consistently turned up on our doorstep in the past few decades simply by following the scent of oil. Malta is one of very few jurisdictions 100 per cent dependent on oil for its electricity generation. It is a beacon for those who build, sell or operate wind turbines. Our government has built an almost unique expertise in turning them away.
Why we have been so obstinate for so long is a very interesting question. It should be a burning question for everybody who has a water or electricity bill to pay. It should be a matter of fiery political debate. It may even be a matter inviting investigation by the Auditor General or even the police Economic Crime Unit.
Leaving that matter aside, my reading of the present situation is that something is about to give. The balance is tipping against those with interests in the status quo.
With the prime sites owned by the government, all those jockeying for a place in the race face risks not usually associated with wind energy projects. Who will nab the best sites? How? How will that victory affect the other players? With our track record of contested tender issues on major projects, we can look forward to yet another spectacle of multinationals locking horns over a Maltese project and becoming entangled in our domestic interest labyrinth.
The exploitation of Malta's potential oil and gas resources is well within the government's exclusive economic zone. The rest of us are told next to nothing and we only mumble and speculate. The exploitation of stone is a mess of national proportions in which the word sustainability is religiously excluded in deference to the construction industry while water exploitation is in a state of fully-documented anarchy. Now the wind is picking up.
In many ways wind energy is a fourth dimension coming into being in an era altogether new. Will the sharks take over or will the Administration ensure that long-terms national interests are properly safeguarded? Is the concept still alive? Will a deal go down effectively leasing out Malta's wind energy generation potential to a multinational, which will be able to sell it anywhere in Europe thanks to Malta's expected connection to the European grid while trading the carbon credits it makes on the global market? How good will that deal be for me and you?
Can you be moved to take an interest in all this before you are presented with a fait accompli? Is it too involved for you? Or are you convinced that taking an interest is pointless because, come the next election, this issue will be nowhere near the political agenda?
The ban on wind power on land in Malta and to a large extent in the shallow seas immediately offshore is maintained on the say so of the Malta Tourism Authority. The dam is about to burst.
While high-rises sprout like mushrooms across the country dooming thousands of new apartments to long-term energy inefficiency and casting many of their neighbours into unprofitable shade, the MTA was not asked to voice an opinion as to the effect of these monsters on the country's looks. On wind energy it has been allowed to set a veto. Not for much longer.
Of course, we have many world records in being the last to do the obvious and I am confident that we can continue to maintain them for a considerable time beyond reason but something oily tells me that our wind energy ban is about to be lifted. It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good but it will take luck for most of us to get to smile about it when the turbines finally spin over us. Good luck everyone.
www.alternattiva.org.mt, www.adgozo.com
Dr Vassallo is chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika - the Green party.
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Comments
Now we see Dr Vassallo placing much unnecessary emphasis on the role of multinationals, sharks, and of all the "authorities" in Malta, the Tourism Industry. For a small island like Malta, we hardly need the Tourism Authority to advise where wind turbines should be located. Off-shore is the only option due to safety and noise considerations. The water also needs to be shallow enough in order to make wind turbines economically viable. There should be no need for the Maltese government to trouble itself too much with multinationals. The Danish governemnt established its wind power, which is the most advanced in the world, through financial investment from Danish households and the pioneering work of a small local company named Vestas. As to sharks, there will always be sharks, but ultimately the decision will rest with the Maltese government. The government would have to plan and implement such a project within an EU framework, would want to overflow excess power to an EU grid, and provide a good return on investment to Maltese households who would, and should be, the ultimate stakeholders. Anything less would not be acceptable. As to whether the dam is about to "burst", it has already burst. Enough to mention that only two years ago Mr Murti predicted that a barrel of oil would rise to $100 while it was still hovering at around $50. No one wanted to believe him then. Now Goldman Sachs are predicting $200 by as early as end of this year. Malta, along with Cyprus and Slovenia, the only three in the EU with zero wind power capacity, will have no choice but to wake up from their torpor, and to do so urgently.