Gas to replace fuel oil in power stations

The government plans to eliminate fuel oil completely in power stations and replace it with gas by 2014 or 2015, Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt told Parliament on Thursday.

Speaking during the debate on the Private Member's motion by opposition environment spokesman Leo Brincat, Dr Gatt said such a move would necessitate the fitting of a pipeline between Malta and Italy and Enemalta officials were already in Gela in talks with ENI, the Italian state energy company, to evaluate feasibility and financial impact.

The government was also considering electricity, and one of its targets was to close down the Marsa power station by 2015.

This currently produced 270 megawatts which would have to be substituted. The long term plan included a tender for a new turbine in Delimara to be built by 2010, which would be producing 140 megawatts.

In the meantime there was also work on an interconnector, between Malta and Sicily, which would give the opportunity of purchasing electricity, even solar and wind-produced, from the mainland. This interconnector would be producing 200 megawatts, bringing the total produced to 340 megawatts. This was already more than the 270 megawatts produced at Marsa. However the government was also working towards acquiring another turbine by 2015.

The current situation was a choice between this other turbine in Delimara, producing 140 megawatts, or having two interconnectors of 200 megawatts each. Financial studies so far showed it would be cheaper to build the interconnectors than the turbine. This would also mean cleaner energy.

Dr Gatt said the government had not been suddenly surprised by climate change. Indeed, it had been tackling it for a long time, in a long-term regeneration plan.

Cars were another major source of pollution. Having a ratio of 700 cars to every 1000 persons made Malta among the heaviest polluted country by cars. The government wanted to convince people to go for modern cleaner-energy vehicles because things could not remain as they were at present, having 60 per cent of the schoolvans more than 9/10 years old, and 90 per cent of the tourist coaches more than 14 years old.

Earlier, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said successive PN governments had taken measures to tackle climate change, aspiring to reach EU standards. A framework already existed and what Malta now needed was a strategy to achieve these aims. He added that there may be aspects of this strategy which need legislating on and there is no objection to this.

The Nationalist government had also taken the decision to replace coal by fuel oil for the generation of electricity. This factor brought a significant change in the impact on the environment but this was done at an expense as fuel oil costs much more than coal.

Millions of euros had to be invested to implement the strategy for climate change so that people had to fork out more money. This investment included new turbines for the Delimara power station and the closure of the Marsa power station. Money had to be invested also in gas technology and on alternative energy while the government aimed also to connect to the European energy grid.

Mr Fenech said this year's budget allocated over €50 million to give incentives to industry and to households to invest in alternative energy. But the opposition criticised the government for introducing a tax of a few cents to set up the energy efficiency fund through which the government aimed to raise €5 million for this year. If the opposition wanted to join the government in its efforts it had to be clear on the financial implications. The tax on plastic bags and on energy-wasting light bulbs aimed to decrease the negative impact on the environment.

Concluding, Minister Fenech said that through the motion, the opposition had presented a wish while the government was presenting a strategy as agreed in the European Council of Ministers.

Introducing his Private Member's motion calling for the drawing up of an Act on climate change, Mr Brincat said that although Malta was not in a position to influence other countries, it would be showing commitment to controlling its own emissions if it enacted such a piece of legislation which was strong and transparent.

Climate change was to remain a matter of urgency and the government's responsibility was not only to present but also to future generations. He appealed for the national interest to be placed first and foremost.

Mr Brincat criticised Resources Minister George Pullicino for having called him for an urgent meeting on Wednsday and presented him with a hard copy and a Power-point presentation on a climate change strategy report drawn up by a government-appointed committee.

The report was presented to the government on December 12 but the minister timed the presentation of the report to the Prime Minister to the same day of the debate in a "politically malicious" move to divert media attention.

He said that although the report did not exclude anything, it had no clear commitment towards legislating on climate change. The focus of the matter, Mr Brincat said, was legislation, and the opposition would accept nothing less. The government did not know what it wanted, it was caught on the wrong foot and did not want to be bound by legislation which would lead to transparency.

He said that following consultation with NGOs and specialised people, he had made several suggestions which should have been heeded. These included the introduction of the concept of solar rights. The opposition was willing to consider all alternative energy proposals.

The opposition had indicated it would be moving a private members' Bill, which it moved on October 10. But the government's reaction, Mr Brincat said, was mixed and confusing. It either did not understand the spirit of the opposition's message or wanted to confuse minds.

It had never been the opposition's intention to draw up a bill on its own. It wanted the country to have clear aims on levels it had to reach and to have a concrete plan of action on how these aims could be reached. Such legislation would introduce an annual reporting system on targets for Parliament to place on the government the responsibility to calculate the impact that climate change could have on the country.

Labour's initiative was welcomed by most NGOs and others, including The Times, which editorially praised the initiative Labour had taken and expressed concern at the government's "lukewarm reaction".

What the PL wanted, Mr Brincat said, was for a consensus to be reached on this matter as had been reached on the financial services since 1994.

If the law requested was enacted, he said, the situation would be clearer for Maltese businesses and with its modest contribution Malta would be giving a clear indication of its commitment.

Mr Brincat's motion was defeated by 31 votes for and 33 votes against.

• In the parliamentary report which appeared yesterday on page 14, the opposition spokesman on the environment Leo Brincat was quoted as saying that "the minister was interested in climate change legislation because he did not want to be accountable". In fact, Mr Brincat said that the minister was not interested in such legislation.
The error is regretted.