Energy security lies in diversity (2)

The Enemalta Professional Officers' Union is reported (March 6) to have questioned the reliability of the proposed cable link to the European electricity grid, suggesting that a cable fault might black-out the Maltese islands for a long time before such a fault could be fixed.

This sounds like an opinion based only on information and experience gained solely on our little rock. Is the union aware that France has supplied southern England (and the Isle of Wight by cable from England) with nuclear-generated electricity by cable/s for the past 30 years, and that there has never been a total electricity black-out of southern England during this period?

On the other hand, I am in total agreement with the union that household take-up of expensive photovoltaic panels is not going to occur on an extensive scale unless Enemalta buys back the green electricity produced at a far more favourable rate to households than the current one. Enemalta's reported response that PV panels-generated electricity is more expensive than fossil fuel-generated energy is only partly correct - they are discounting the fact that oil and gas prices will escalate sharply once this global depression is over, and that we need to produce some green energy to reduce our carbon footprint.