Enemalta engineers' union against power link to Sicily

Alex Ellul

Mar 6th 2009, 07:29

what's the difference between importing energy in the form of oil by means of tankers and importing it in the form of electricity by means of copper cables? Both are risky. The second option is much more cleaner at micro (local) level. We should aim at least to eliminate the Marsa power station which runs at 20 % efficiency and causes pollution at the most populated area of Malta, while reducing the cost of electricity. We are currently paying 17 euro cents a unit. The price on the continent is about 10 eurocents while in the US it is much lower.

Lawrence Attard

Mar 5th 2009, 16:25

@ J Martinelli & Co

Why is all this fuss going on?

This from the EPOU was just simple feedback, as asked for by the climate change committee on its website!

MRA asked for feedback, and the unions showed its views. Simple. Is not this the process of public consultation? Or maybe I am missing something? Everyone can make his points, that is why it is called consultation! I guess we Maltese are not that habituated with such things and tend to attack those who have different views from ours.

In my opinion, they did a good thing that should be praised instead. They did not go on strike or chained themselves to the bastions, they just aired their opinions.

At least now we know Enemalta will lay a second cable to be on standby. So if one interconnector would cost 200 million EUR (mentioned last week on the times), will the cost for laying a second cable double? That would be exorbitant! Do the pros outweigh the cons for such a high investments?

Lawrence

J Martinelli

Mar 5th 2009, 13:13

@ L Galea

What you are forgetting is that with the Malta - Sicily link, Enemalta will have a choice of the source of electric power.

Thus if it chooses nuclear sources which run much cleaner than coal/oil, then the carbon footprint will decrease by the difference of the two sources.

Since our generation relies on the dirtier option, the link would prove to be beneficial and to our favour.

Relying on solar panels will only be a solution for those who instal them if a power failure occurs. Then the rest will complain that since they cannot instal such systems because of logistics (apartments, etc) or cannot afford them, they will be discriminated against!

Try to convince industry to run on PVs !

These are the facts. The engineers' attitude is to keep Malta in 'emergency mode' all the time.

Paul Caruana

Mar 5th 2009, 11:01

People need to be aware that Italy itself is suffering from a serious shortfall of electricity generation, which will persist for at least the next several years. So, quite frankly, if the situation in their country become critical at certain times of the day, do you honestly believe that the Italians would give priority to maintaining the full electical flow to our submarine cable?

Would it not rather be the case, at such peak load times (which would be our peak load times as well!), the supply to Malta would be diminished, while the Italian engineers give priority to keeping the Italian grid well supplied?

Once again, I urge the powers that be to reconsider this dangerous option. Putting a large chunk of our electricity supply in the hands of a foreign power (abet a friendly, EU one) should never be an option!

caz crutchley

Mar 5th 2009, 08:58

Of course they are.
They would loose their stranglehold on this island and have to compete with the big boys like ENEL.
And if we in each locality install our own turbines and cells we can do without them all together. Shut down Enemalta and save the country millions

Alex Ellul

Mar 5th 2009, 08:38

ERRATA CORRIGE: Our local rate is 0.17 Euro cent per KWH not 0.017. (17 Euro cents) my apologies.

IN FRANCE, THE AVERAGE PRICE OF 1 KWH IS 10 EURO CENTS. No arithmetic needed.

carmelo Briffa

Mar 5th 2009, 05:38

power link from one country to an other is a very common thing in the world at present. For instance look at huge countries America and Canada they too join by power link and each one of them sell and buy power from each....What is wrong with our engineers of Enemalta. Are we speciall or are we un-experience whern it comes to trouble shooting submerged cables?. Wake up engineers and study the situation first before you leap!.

L..Galea

Mar 4th 2009, 23:16

J Martinelli
The link will not reduce the carbon footprint because what you get from the link is added to your carbon footprint.

Maria Agius
You are correct, but it seems that some people like to bury and continue burying their heads in the sand.

P Mifsud
Alarmist or not that is and will be the situation.

victor vella
As they say victor, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and this applies also to what you consider as ugly contraption. Whether you like ti or not, these will become a common feature of our skyline.

Joe Galea F
It appears that you have no idea of power generation.

Alex Ellul

Mar 4th 2009, 20:01

When power fails, all PV installations automatically shut down. That is the regulation. Hence during a power failure, a PV household or business unit installation will be switched off..no power is generated from these units.

Alex Ellul

Mar 4th 2009, 17:41

The EPOU is against the implementation of the submarine cable(s), citing risks involved. Risks are always existent. Only some years ago, the European grid failed plunging Italy and other countries into darkness for hours. We also experience, though at diminished frequencies, local blackouts and brownouts. The question really should be economically based and even biased. What would be the cost of electricity bought from the continent? In the US, the cost of one KWH is about 0.045 US dollars, which is a fraction of the 0.017 Euro cents current local price. However I do not know the price of one KWh in Europe.

If the real reason behind the EPOU statement is their job security, which, coming from a union, usually is, then so be it and they should say so. Technically and financially, the country would fair better with a third option to the Marsa and Delimara power providers.

Mark Cassar

Mar 4th 2009, 17:15

@ Maria Agius

you are 100% correct and know your engineering stuff

Mark Cassar

Mar 4th 2009, 17:12

The engineers stance is solely based on what engineers call power flow calculations and none of the things you are imagining!

Please do not comment without knowing the facts.

albert leone ganado

Mar 4th 2009, 16:07

The attitude of the EneMalta engineers re a submarine cable is downright amazing even more so when they suggest photovoltaics as an alternative.
Are we unique in using submarine power links or transnational power connections in Europe?.
Are they just being in Maltese style plainly negative or are there other reasons for their position?

J Farrugia

Mar 4th 2009, 14:46

I'll try to guess why these Enemalta 'engineers' came out against this interconnection with Sicily. First they are more interested in installing photvoltaic panels on our roofs. There's more money for them because they have vested interests in this subject. Secondly they dont want to repair any faults on the high seas between Malta and Siciliy, since they are afraid of their italian counterparts of not being up to the required standards in repairing such damage to underwater cables.

J Martinelli

Mar 4th 2009, 14:21

When a project which makes a lot of sense like the Malta - Sicily power link is announced, the Union representing Enemalta's engineers comes up with lame reasoning.

The Union states that the money required should be diverted for incentives for installation of photo voltaic cells in private homes with better repay for surpluses fed back to the grid.
This raises the question whether such excesses from PV cells amount to much more than one or two percentage points (at best) of the required power. Should Delimara plant fail, and without the power link, then what does one do with 1% of the total required power? What if the failure occurs at night when the PV cells are useless?

Does not the Union risk making its professional engineers sound a bit out of tune? The power link is not supposed to replace the Delimara plant but rather to supplement it in a way that the combined energy from plant and power link, reduces the carbon footprint and get us more in line to conform with pre-established levels.

No matter what project is announced, there are always those who place their personal agenda well in front of the nation's interests.

Maria Agius

Mar 4th 2009, 14:10

@P Mifsud

I am no engineer, only a student, however I learnt that:

Current is something that is consumed while it is being created, it is not stored. So if we are using 500MW right now, the power stations are producing 500Mw, and to run efficiently you cannot have more turbines just on standby.

So, if a fault occurs, on a small turbine/cable that is loaded at say 10Mw, the other turbines can make up for that load capacity but they will be running on their limits. The larger the load lost, the more probable is that the transformers/turbines taking this load won't cope with it and fail, causing others to fail etc (an avalanche effect.) This has already happened a couple of times in America last year and even in Europe. I understand that to have a healthy system you need many small generating units rather than one big one. This they call it flexibilty. Now what EPOU is saying, and in my opinion it makes sense, we are going to have a bottle neck with the cable.

@E.Magri

I guess that EPOU didn't speak before because the climate change committee only asked for feedback late last month!

r ferriggi

Mar 4th 2009, 14:07

jien la jien engineer u lanqas ghandi interess ( personali). pero....

ma nistax nifhem kif l'engineers ieghdin jghidu li l'option li niehdu il power min cable sa sqallija m'hix lahjar option!!

rigward il possibilita ta hsarat kbar.. ,,, infakkar li fmalta, din tista tigri fkollox u kullimkien hawn malta. ma ghandna redundancy ta xejn.

loption ta wind farms flopinjoni tieghi mhix zgur vijabbli. u inzid li loption ta OFFSHORE hi hmerija kbira, kemm habba spiza kapitali, u liktar il costs tar repairs wara ftit snin.
ikun esperiment ''doomed''.

li il gvern ma ccaqlaqx fuq lincentivi privati huma fatt li jisthoqqlu kundanna.

pero,,,, lil engineers nghidilhom,,,, li iridu jikkonvincu lil maltin bis serjeta li cable min sqallija mhux lahjar option. jekk xejn minhabba il fatt li din it teknologija mhi gdida xejn u ladarba tigi mqieghda, ma fihiex running costs.

flistess hin, il gvern ghandu jimbarka BIS SERJETA fuq alternative energy incentives ghal lindividwi halli nibdew innaqsu il load tal pajjiz.

bhalma ghamel sens li norbtu id destin taghna ma ta l'EU, hekk ukoll ghandna ninghaqdu mal grid ewropeja fil power ghal sigurta ikbar, u LONG TERM costs inqas.

G. Scerri

Mar 4th 2009, 14:06

It is a source of endless wonder to me why we should be connecting to a country that is a net importer of electricity itself. Only recently the Italian government signed an agreement with France for the building of atomic electricity-generating stations in Italy. This will not be operational for many years and I don't suppose the Ministry concerned has any idea of what Malta will be charged then. The engineers mentioned the possibility of disruption. Has anybody thought of what would happen, if Italy, pressed for power for its own use, cuts us off? This happened to Italy when France, one severe winter, turned off the supply. When countries have their back to the wall they follow the principle of charity begins at home, something that we seem to be forgetting here. The phrase "european grid" , that the media, taking its cue from the Energy desk , likes to use simply does not exist. At the moment France is supplying most of Europe's energy, at a price, as well as building atomic generators in Libya.

E.Magri

Mar 4th 2009, 13:40

@ N.Grima
“I think a way to store grid energy …. This is a relatively very old idea…”

What is it you are talking about? How do you store the grid’s energy. Surely you don’t mean batteries.

Edward Scicluna

Mar 4th 2009, 13:33

This new way of providing electricity to this piece of rock would expose the inefficiency and beuracratic methods Enemalta uses to suck our money by providing us with energy. It would expose these engineers of how their works and ethics are retrograde and absolete. Some one said that he smells a rat .... you're smelling only one???

Mario Nicchia

Mar 4th 2009, 12:49

@ Julian Borg Barthet

I think the EPOU has some experience about how things go in our country. Once you install a cable, Malta would not invest in more power solutions until the Maltese generation requirements equals the installed capacity. This would be far too late and would lead to irrational generation strategies.

I must say that I admire EPOU who had the guts to stand out of the crowd and mention its concerns and advices. This is rarely done in Malta, and is a sign that we are becoming a little bit more democratic.

At least we heard some solutions that seem to be less exorbitant for the Maltese nation than connecting to the EU grid.

P Mifsud

Mar 4th 2009, 12:45

" given the scenario of a cable fault occurring when 200MW are being supplied, the electricity network in Malta will surely collapse and plunge the whole nation in darkness with very serious consequences for the whole business community on the island."

This statement is alarmist. I am no electrical engineer but in a situation where there is no fall back that statement is true. In a situation where the link to Sicily is used to provide extra capacity and redundancy then that statement is not true.

How about this then - "If we have a serious fault at Delimara then the whole country will be plunged into darkness unless we have redundant supplies from Sicily via a submarine cable." Can an engineer confirm that this last statement makes sense?

Joseph Cauchi

Mar 4th 2009, 12:43

It is so nice for these engineers to feel so concerned about the possibility of disruption of energy supply.

What do other countries, which depend on their energy through this type of supply, do?
Do we always have to be different and special?

I am sure the technology of this mode of supply is quite avant-garde and it is also the most reliable and viable in the supply of energy.

I would let the decision be taken by the real experts in this field who I am sure will take all the considerations as regards to cost, environment, safety, reliability of supply, pollution etc…

If it makes economic sense, then let’s go for it!

Could it be that this mode of supply will hurt some local businessmen in the future?

I smell a rat!

../..

Adrian Cachia

Mar 4th 2009, 12:37

"Instead of investing a high initial cost on an interconnection cable to have a source of renewable energy from abroad, the EPOU suggested the introduction of higher incentives in photovoltaic installations on household roofs"

What about apartment blocks that barely have space for the water roof tanks?? A lot of areas in Malta house these type of apartment blocks. These are not even allowed to install a solar water heater on the roofspace left let alone another form of photovoltaic panel!!!

Mepa should oblige the developers that at least the common areas and elevator of these buildings should be supplied from a renewable source!!

Eugenio Taliana

Mar 4th 2009, 12:34

It is always positive to know what people in the knowhow think, also it would be welcome if the opposition put forward their ideas, but then it is for the government to look at the positives and negatives and come out with a decision

Adrian Cachia

Mar 4th 2009, 12:33

"Instead of investing a high initial cost on an interconnection cable to have a source of renewable energy from abroad, the EPOU suggested the introduction of higher incentives in photovoltaic installations on household roofs"

What about apartment blocks that barely have space for the water roof tanks?? A lot of areas in Malta house these type of apartment blocks. These are not even allowed to install a solar water heater on the roofspace left let alone another form of photovoltaic panel!!!

Mepa should oblige the developers that at least the common areas and elevator of these buildings should be supplied from a renewable source!!

victor vella

Mar 4th 2009, 12:32

Does the EPOU suggest that many houshold install that ugly contraption on our roof tops?Would they be good enough to answer the following questions please.
a) Give us a real estimate regarding cost of purchase , installation vis a vis the generated power, = saving to household and life expectancy of the available ones.
b) What happens in very strong winds?Are these contraptions safe.I do not know the country where the available plates are made but unless the strong wind factor is estimated in thier construction I shudder to think what may happen.
c)How many times in the last 30 years has the Malta Gozo submarine cable been down?
Then we start talking.

Joe Galea F

Mar 4th 2009, 12:23

What about backup measures in cas the main cable fials...like installing some other 2 cables or whatever it may take to ensure a continuous supply in case of emergency. Why not keep power stations as backup only?

andrea muscat

Mar 4th 2009, 12:21

SUSTAINABILITY SUSTAINABILITY SUSTAINABILITY !!!!!! how long does it take these politicians to come to their senses, god help us if we spend all that money to satisfy our eu buddies.AT LASTenemalta upcoming engineers are seeing the light which shines bright every day into their brain, to invest with society by increasing repayment on production of alternate solar energy.open your minds and fill the island with 30% solar capability and why not equip every reverse osmosis with a 3 megawatt turbine as they are usally in an already cutoff area due to their high pitch whining of their turbines.and cover its enormous wasted roof with solar panels,and if 50% is used for production at night then the 20mw boost, can be utilized for peak power production during summer.

Paul Barrett

Mar 4th 2009, 12:05

There is a lot of common sense in the Engineers statement and proposals. The very high risk of being held hostage to others supplying electricity at whatever cost they dream up is really not acceptable.
Either we use nuclear or a combination of wind/photovoltaic/methane as a back up to the power station.
True Photovoltaic produces very little electricity in relation to cost/size and wind power is equally costly, unsightly, unreliable but every little bit helps and we must get over the "not in my back yard" mentality and think more about survival.
It is unlikely that we could either afford or be allowed to have a miniature Nuclear Power Station which would totally solve our power needs for the foreseeable future.

N.Grima

Mar 4th 2009, 11:55

I agree with what the engineers have said. I wouldn't write off the cable completely though, maybe postpone it or give it less priority... especially given the current negative circumstances re EU financing. However the suggestions, while very rational and practical, would still keep a grid relying whole on the power stations... which leaves us without a solution. To point out pollution is not the only factor here, there is also cost and reliance on foreign material (oil). See what happened to Europe when Ukraine closed the gas taps!

If I had to chip in with an idea (mhux billi kulhadd igerger u ma jippruvax isib soluzzjoni), I think a way to store grid energy would be much more helpful to our country, even before renewable energy creation. This is a relatively very old idea, which I do not know why it hasn't been implemented yet. Essentially it smoothens out the load over 24 hours, allowing smaller required *production* capacities (= more efficient = cheaper = cleaner). Then you can start adding the renewable energy and the submarine cable, storing the hours of electricity and avoiding the scenarios described in the article.

Julian Borg Barthet

Mar 4th 2009, 11:51

There are a number of reasons for having an undersea cable; number 1 being the redundant capacity of our power. You'll be surprised how many companies that are considering Malta for their manufacturing or infrastructure expansion, take into account that Malta only has 1 source of power spread across multiple generation sites. Just because we will purchase energy from Sicily doesn't mean that we will trash our power generation at home. You'd have to be clinically insane to put your faith in a single power cable between Malta and another country. Why do you think we have 4 telcom cables linking us to Sicily.

Secondly, we can't reach our climate change targets if nobody wants a turbine near their house or an offshore wind farm where they can see it. Solar is great, but inefficient and expensive. A solar thermal plant needs space, and a lot of it.

The engineers are scared of losing their jobs, and you know what I don't blame them. But what they don't understand is that a cable between Malta and Sicily would involve more engineers on site then we currently require.

E.Magri

Mar 4th 2009, 11:36

The proposal for the submarine cable has been around since at least 2006.
Why have the EPOU waited till now to voice their concern ?

G. Fenech

Mar 4th 2009, 11:23

Is this the same enemalta that doesnt want to show the accounts for the past few years? Is this the same enemalta that keeps on overcharging everyone for power?

Off course they dont want the cable from Sicily! that would mean there is less chance of pocketing profits!!

JAzzopardi

Mar 4th 2009, 11:13

Unfortunately photovoltaic cells are just pie in the sky and a lot of unrealistic hype. They will never replace traditional power generation. Can anyone imagine photovoltaic cells running industry! As to the Malta-Sicily cable, I think it is very short-sighted to dismiss the idea because there might be disruptions in the power. Absolutely. There will always be. But we have them now already. Therefore it is obvious that the present power supply is not a guarantee that power failures will not occur. On the contrary, it is a common occurrence now. There need to be contingencies in place for such eventualities. I am sure we would not be the first country in the world to have power supplied via a submarine cable. Why are we so negative about everything!

edward bartolo

Mar 4th 2009, 11:10

Well done to the engineers.

What about keeping a reserve cable or two? I know that it increases the cost, but increasing reliability, always increases the cost.

Paul Caruana

Mar 4th 2009, 11:09

I completely agree with the Engineers' union. It is totally insane to relie to such an extent on a thrid party to supply us with vital electrical energy. We must stay 100% self sufficent in electricity generation.

S Caruana

Mar 4th 2009, 11:05

In Sicilly you are basically paid to have photovoltaic installations, as the goverment buys off you the excess energy. It also incentives the households to install such technology. Instead of recieving an electricity bill you get paid. This would really help the economy. Much better then being dependent on another country such as the proposal of this cable.

J.F. Vassallo Ebejer

Mar 4th 2009, 11:02

EPOU ‘s suggestion in respect of photovoltaic cells, and the need for the energy authority to pay a more realistic price for buying back excessive energy are much more doable than the proposed submarine cable.

Photovoltaic cells and solar water heaters should result in substantial savings not only to the tax payer by way of reduced import of fuel oil, but also by way of CO2 emissions.

Although Government has come up with an incentive for households to invest in such equipment the costs are still beyond the reach of the vast majority of households.

Emanuel Muscat

Mar 4th 2009, 10:53

It is good that the enemalta engineers are giving their advice on the Sicily-Malta electric power link:if it fails as it sure will in time and by accidents the politicians will washy their hands and say it is a technical problem while the local electrical engineers will be blamed.