If the offshore reef off Mellieħa is not adequate for a wind farm, Malta will be "stuck" and will probably have to ask the EU to reconsider its expectations, according to Resources Minister George Pullicino.
Speaking at the launch of an 80-metre-high wind monitoring mast, Mr Pullicino yesterday said the planned 18-20 turbines at Sikka l-Bajda (together with the smaller farms in Baħrija and Ħal Far) would generate almost 40 per cent of the clean energy Malta needed to reach the 2020 EU-imposed targets.
The EU stipulates that, by that deadline, 20 per cent of the energy Malta generates must come from clean renewable sources.
The monitoring mast set up this week at L-Aħrax will develop a wind profile of the area by measuring wind speed and direction in order to see whether the planned offshore wind farm is feasible. But if it is not, there is no immediate Plan B.
"We would have done all we could within our limitations but if this does not work out we will have to wait for better technology for deep offshore wind farms so that we can start to exploit it," Mr Pullicino said.
He pointed out that Sikka l-Bajda was Malta's only shallow reef, big enough for an offshore wind farm.
Malta is surrounded by deep sea, so once the technology improves we would have no problems to set up offshore wind farms, including floating ones, according to Mr Pullicino.
"The problem at the moment is that the technology for deep sea wind farms is still very expensive and it is not proven. We cannot be guinea pigs. The kind of wind farms we are looking at are off the shelf," he said.
In 2006, the government had said it wanted to pursue a deep water offshore wind farm after Sikka l-Bajda was discarded because of "enormous visual and other impacts". Eventually, however, the deep water project was ditched because the technology was not advanced enough.
Mr Pullicino pointed out that wind monitoring would also take place in the other two smaller proposed sites for onshore farms, that is, Baħrija and Ħal Far.
In Ħal Far, a mast will be installed similar to the one in Mellieħa, whereas in Baħrija, the government will make use of the telecommunication poles already there.
The government is also working on a number of other renewable energy projects including solar panelling on public buildings, domestic and industrial schemes to incentivise wind and solar energy as well as energy from waste. If all the projects go through as planned, Malta would "just about" manage to reach its targets, so if the major one at Sikka l-Bajda falls through things will look even worse.
He said Malta was limited for space partly because of the high population density but also because the land that was available was generally of environmental or historic importance and, therefore, could not be touched.
Mr Pullicino added that, together with the two-year wind monitoring campaign, the ministry also had to study the reef itself to ensure that the ecosystem was not too sensitive for the development. The monitoring mast, which received the planning authority's seal of approval last week, stands on its own weight and did not require any drilling for it to be installed.
It is supported by strong ropes decorated with red markers to reduce bird collisions, following Birdlife Malta's warning that the area is populated by Shearwaters.
The €150,000 mast is equipped with some 17 small wind vanes that will record the wind's power and velocity from different directions and at different altitudes.