Enemalta professional staff query suitability of cable link
One of the main official reasons behind the proposed submarine link between Malta and Sicily - security of the energy supply - is being questioned by none other than the Enemalta Professional Officers' Union. It said a fault would plunge the country into darkness, with serious consequences for the business community. In addition, repairing such a fault would not be easy, especially if the elements of nature worked against you.
It suggested that instead of investing into the cable, the government should launch better incentives for photovoltaic cells on households and allow the local energy authority to buy back the energy produced at a more reasonable rate.
The union's views were submitted to the Climate Change Committee in reply to a request for feedback on its Climate Change Report.
The committee, chaired by David Spiteri Gingell, was specifically set up to draw up a national climate change strategy, which touches upon various areas such as efficient lighting, alternative energy sources, waste management, water and electricity and information campaigns.
The Enemalta Professional Officers' Union said there were many constraints in adopting wind as a renewable source of energy, adding that the proposal should be tested well through a pilot project because not all sites were suitable for wind farming.
Enemalta reacted saying it was surprised that the union, which represents engineers and other professional staff employed with the corporation, has chosen to express publicly its disagreement with the corporation's proposal to substitute part of the country's electricity supply through the cable, without discussing its concern with it.
It said modern cables, installed with the adequate protection, had proven to be extremely reliable and were generally credited with actually improving the security of supply of the interconnected systems. There were then other benefits resulting from shared generating resources, economies of scale in generation and the availability of electricity sources from generating units with lower emissions and lower costs.
Enemalta also said it was studying the possibility of installing two cables, which would be laid one kilometre apart to ensure a constant supply should one be damaged.
Referring to the suggestions regarding photovoltaic cells and wind energy, Enemalta said the cost of electricity generated by such systems was much higher than that generated by conventional systems.
The European Commission last month decided to treble Malta's allocation of funds for energy-related projects following intense pressure by the government.
According to a new document circulated among member states, the Commission has granted the island €20 million for its submarine cable project to tap into the European electricity grid through Sicily.
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Lawrence Attard
Mar 6th 2009, 20:40
We now know that EPOU does not concur with all MRA’s climate change committee recommendations. In my opinion if they had some reserves they did the right thing to air them.
Sincerely I believe that having the knowledge on the matter (being directly involved in it.) they did the right thing to feedback MRA with their thoughts.
These are the people who should talk, not committees setup with the same old faces! In Malta we have a group of persons involved in everything, committees, directors, NGOss etc..as if they are the only knowledgeable individuals on the island!
At least now we know the disadvantages of the interconnection. I must admit that before reading EPOUs comments I forgot about all the hysterical comments I read on these blogs when the Internet failed for half a day for a similar problem, and now am asking myself whether it’s a good idea to treat Internet and power on the same scale?
Maria Agius
Mar 6th 2009, 20:26
@ S Risso and those of you who compared a cable with a power station,
Please note that a power station is not a single unit source of current, but made up of various power generators connected in parallel. This reduces the risks of a total power station failure because it is difficult that all units fail at the same time. The story is different with a cable where there is a massive percentage of Malta’s load carried in one source, implying a bottleneck. One fault and you are out.
Mario Nicchia
Mar 6th 2009, 20:08
@R ferriggi By 2020 EU obligations require a percentage of our produced power to come from renewable energy. Considering that i) nuclear does not fall under this category. ii) Italy does not generate sufficient alternative energy, Malta will have to buy renewable energy from far away EU countries, thus paying more for electricity transmission. If one adds the cable's cost of capital, the price per kwh of renewable and the transmission cost, then maybe considering to invest renewables in Malta claimed by EPOU is not that unreasonable!! According to below article 'Referring to the suggestions regarding photovoltaic cells and wind energy, Enemalta said the cost of electricity generated by such systems was much higher than that generated by conventional systems' Does this mean they are against renewables? -Yet again they are against it, but proposing a cable interconnection to buy it from abroad?! Is in't this paradoxical? In my opinion EPOU did its homework before releasing such comments.
r ferriggi
Mar 6th 2009, 17:03
mr caruana, rest assured that italy is actively working on the problem. they are having discussions with france ( which has nuclear). it was on the news. also,,, i bet that we will still be talking when the italians would have already solved the problem!! i also bet that we will be constrained to connect to the european grid anyway !!!
Paul Caruana
Mar 6th 2009, 11:36
Italy already has a significant electrical energy production shortfall, and is forced to import considerable quantities of this essential item from its neighbours.
Now we come along, connect ourselves to the Italian energy grid, and expect to draw unlimited supplies of electrical energy from a grid which is struggling to maintain adequate supply during peak use.
Frankly, I think that this whole issue needs to be carefully reassessed. Guess who will get priority for electrical distribution over the southern Italian electrical grid if this simply cannot cope with the increasing peak supply demands of both Sicily and Malta?
S Risso
Mar 6th 2009, 11:02
Sounds to me like the Union is worried about losing barganing power during negotiations. I think there is reason for them to worry - but we deserve and uninterrupted service right? Something Enemalta has improved but has yet failed to provide.
r ferriggi
Mar 6th 2009, 10:33
jien bniedem tekniku, imm mhux engineer.
sa fejn naf jien, il nies teknici jahsbu bcerta logika fejn tidhol teknika.
kif lengineers qieghdin jitkellmu kontra link ghal sqallija huwa misteru kbir. liskuzi ghaliex huma kontra link sa sqallija kif rappurtati huma TAD DAHK.
ejja ma nkunux egoisti daqshekk li naraw biss linteressi tal group taghna biss.