Clean energy more expensive but necessary - Austin Gatt

Raymond Sammut

Jul 8th 2009, 21:27

@ John Spiteri

The report you are citing is in regard to the effect of state funded renewable energy on "job creation" in Spain. It has nothing to do with the viability of the technologies in question. Austin Gatt keeps claiming that only land-based wind farming is viable. This may be true only in the short-term. Deep-sea wind farming technology is improving fast -- both economically and technically -- owing to the large demand. Malta has access to large areas of deep-sea potential which -- with assistance from EU countries, such as the UK which is making monies available to the poorer nations for the purpose of renewable energy -- it can exploit. Cables between Malta and Sicily would certainly help -- no big deal. But that doesn't mean Minister Gatt should stop there and do nothing else. It is inevitable that the cost of fossil fuel will increase again, and spiking suddenly, well before 2020. This while the pressure to reduce CO2 will keep increasing and becoming far more urgent than what it is now.

Mario Azzopardi

Jul 8th 2009, 09:27

Go on Dr Gatt give us a hefty rebate on PV solar panels, make it simpler for us to install by removing the red tape, some adverts will help and the people would be more inclined to install PV panels on their rooftops. Probaby in the long run it will be cheaper for the country instead of the windfarms.

Gabriel A. Pellegrini

Jul 8th 2009, 09:11

Prime Minister Gonzi and his team are working to solve the problem and I am certain that they will succeed.

J Portelli

Jul 8th 2009, 08:48

I think we should start considering to use the Mghatab area, and some disused quarries, at least as a test to see if solar energy is viable. I think there is enough space to at least DO SOMETHING.

Klaus Pedersen

Jul 8th 2009, 08:35

Although a lot more could be done to encourage solar panels on roof-tops, particularly with regards to the financing of meters and the feed-in tarrif, surely the laying of a cable to Sicily and subsequently buying the "quota" of green electricity, to which we are committed by the EU, is the most feasible way for Malta. Reaching the 10% target through purely locally generated green energy would be very expensive. So let's get on with it.
I do hope I have been non-controversial enough to make it past the censors this time.

r ferriggi

Jul 8th 2009, 07:59

i have heard AGs speech yesterday in parliament.

i think that many points he made were VERY VALID.

let us connect to the European grid first. thats should be the priority.

we can then work slowly towards various alternatives in the long-term.

I also very much agree with Dr Gatt when he said that offshore wind farms are not worth it.

100% right.

finally,,,, ALTHOUGH I AGREE FULLY THAT WE SHOULD BE LOOKING SERIOUSLY AT SWITCHING TO ALTERNATIVE ENERGY FOR THE SAKE OF THE ENVIRONMENT,,, this has to be a long-term goal.
those who dream of doing it overnight do not know what they are talking about. FOR MANY REASONS but primarily because malta cannot afford such investments in the short term.

C.ZARB

Jul 8th 2009, 07:59

Wouldnt it be better to implement alternative energy in new government projects rather then waste the little country side we have to build wind farms? I guess Mr Gatt knows that Mater Dejn (yepp that project which went seriously overbudget) works entirely of fossil fuel.

C. Scerri

Jul 8th 2009, 07:47

@Kevin - not sure if it is a problem with the transcription or not, but considering that Minister Gatt spoke about a 9 year pay back period, he is speaking about solar heating panels and not PV (and in this case the govt has been subsidising the cost for a number of years).

In the case of PV the payback time is anywhere between 13 years with subsidy to nearer 20 years without subsidy - basically hardly any saving (monetary as compared to environmentally) at all.

John Muscat

Jul 8th 2009, 01:54

Oil price has gone down from $73 to $62 per barrel... why hasn't enemalta reduced the fuel prices then!!!

Mario Nicchia

Jul 8th 2009, 00:27

Tapping energy from Sicily is a way of saying in Malta you cannot generate alternative energy. This is a real shame considering that the weather that blossoms this island is ideal for photovoltaics complemented with wind and wave energy.

This explains why earlier this year I read about a local union complaining that the interconnector is no solution to get alternative energy.

Poor little Malta, always ready to give itself in the hands of its neighbours.

Mario Nichia
Viareggio

Raymond Sammut

Jul 7th 2009, 22:46

Dr Gatt needs to be questioned in Parliament more thoroughly on this issue. For example, he cites Tunisia as an example. Tunisia is a contrast to Malta in terms of area. Tunisia can afford the establishment of a solar farm, and clearly Malta cannot. There is also the case of Spain, however. Spanish engineers have built a pyramid like solar power station. Malta would have the required expertise and labour available to at least consider this type of project. Why Austin Gatt is not being questioned on the type of research his department is conducting on this issue? Who are his advisers?

John Spiteri - Information Secretary AN

Jul 7th 2009, 22:26

Utter rubbish. The only reason we are going to be lumped by unviable so called 'clean energy' is because his government signed on to EU targets on Carbon Emission WITHOUT undertaking a cost benefit analysis.

I personally emailed him, the prime minister and others (not least the shadow minister in the remote hope that reality will start to sink in) a report by the King-Juan-Carlos University of Madrid analysing the disastrous economic consequences that publicly subsidised 'renewables' led to in Spain. A country which has long been cited as the 'model' to follow:

the report can be found here and i seriously implore your readers to go through it, if only to see what is in store for them if these insane policies are pursued:

http://www.juandemariana.org/pdf/090327-employment-public-aid-renewable.pdf

This report is notunique, there are several others but is one of the most important as it analytically destroys the myth of the "Green Bubble"

if you thought that the current blackout was an anomaly, just wait till we depend on windmills for which you will have to pay through your teeth.

Lawrence Bonello

Jul 7th 2009, 21:51

First prize for consistency in policies for Minister Gatt!!!
All this bla bla bla about clean energy , only to get the other item on ADT's failure to test vehicle emissions!!

Kevin Zammit

Jul 7th 2009, 21:43

"Dr Gatt said solar panels on the roof of a private household would have a bigger financial return for that household, .... "


"and the government had long been subsidising this avenue" !!!!!!!


Really Dr. Gatt !!!!!

The cheek of a statement like this one is:
1. Beyond belief
2. Treating Joe Public as an imbecile


"Tunisia was working on a solar energy farm over a large area of its desert region, with the aim of selling energy to Italy"

Even Tunisia is therefore far ahead of Malta in this field!!!!

We are not saying exporting to Italy but for our own consumption ....

I feel sorry for the 10% of Maltese that do not deserve this sort of mismanagement ...

Leonard Tonna

Jul 7th 2009, 21:33

Dear Minister, It would be nice to have a 1 stop shop when purchasing Solar Panels and applying for a rebate. As it stands, one needs to visit a number of departments and the process is quite lengthy and not appealing at all.