Ministry insists new power plant will meet environmental standards

The Infrastructure Ministry insisted today that the new plant to be installed at Delimara power station would respect the environment and EU emission standards.

Reacting to concerns by Nature Trust and Din l-Art Helwa, the ministry said that no county had to date been able to eliminate the use of oil for power generation. The Maltese government was planning the generation of power from various sources, including the power stations, wind farms and the cable link to Sicily, thus enabling Malta to meet its emission targets without undermining competitiveness. Common sense dictated that environmental considerations should be respected while keeping the economy sustainable, the ministry said.

It reiterated that particles produced by the new generating plant would be collected by filters and stored before being sent abroad.

All this, the ministry said, formed part of the contract awarded to the Scandinavian company BWSC, whose tender was still the cheapest of three offers made.

The ministry said that everybody agreed that Marsa power station had to be closed, and the new plant would be more efficient and respectful of the environment.

It also pointed out that Delimara power station already had five turbines which could be operated on gas.

Even if the rival bid by Israeli company Bateman was selected for the power station extension, it would still have had to be operated using heavy fuel oil or diesel since, at least till 2011, natural gas would not be available for the power stations in Malta.

The selected plant could, in due time, also be operated using gas, the ministry said.