Power stations produce 2,167,640 Mwh of power: 1,791,830 Mwh billed
The power stations last year produced 2,167,640 Mwh of electricity of which 1,791,830 Mwh were actually billed.
Information given in parliament by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech shows that 2,045,935 Mwh of electricity were 'sent out' and 121,705 were used in the power stations themselves.
Replying to another question in Parliament, the minister said that the electricity generated last year was lower than the last seven years. A peak of 2312071 Mwh were generated in 2008. Last year generation reached 2167640. In 2003 total generation was of 2235541 Mwh.
Consumption of gasoil last year reached 77488mt, which was down from 82162 in 2008 but higher than all the other years since 2003. Consumption of heavy fuel oil, however, declined to 523486mt last year, the lowest at least since 2003.
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Christian Sciberras
Mar 10th 2010, 01:51
The pros:
The decrease in power and fuel consumption is to be very well applauded. Let's hope these figures keep decreasing or at least constant in the years to come.
The cons:
The electrical grid wiring is all wrong. There's a lot of redundancy, multiple wires connecting to the same places without any apparent reason.
Additional wiring means a huge increase in different problems including:
-electrical faults are more likely
-power loss, consider we are talking about the national grid, not a house's wiring
In some roads (such as mine), the wiring is so bad, that it goes zigzagging along the road, instead of parallel power lines.
I think a good project would be that of reconfiguring, redesign and reimplementation of the grid, sector by sector.
I Abela
Mar 9th 2010, 19:25
That equates to 35.6 Million Euros in lost power. Well done and keep it up.
Maria Zammit
Mar 9th 2010, 18:52
How much electricity is used by streetlighting and where is this accounted for in the figures given. It is not billed surely?
Edward Mallia
Mar 9th 2010, 17:50
A total of 12.4% of units sent out are unbilled. At least 5% can be ascribed to distribution losses, which have never been very high here. The rest is stolen, something that smart meters should cut down. However, the amount used in the stations themselves should be looked at and efforts made to diminish it. For instance energy used by pumps can be minimised by having variable speed pumps.
lgalea
Mar 9th 2010, 15:08
The losses in the distribution system have to be taken into account, but it seems that they are excessive. When there is a big load and there is a voltage drop as may be experienced by households it means that the voltage drop on the lines is being caused by the current flowing in the lines simply heating the lines and wasting energy. The lower the nominal supply voltage the higher the current for the same amount of power, the higher will be the voltage drop on the lines and the higher the power lost. So when we went from the original nominal 240V to 230V the power loss increased, but it still seems excessive.
Paul Barrett
Mar 9th 2010, 14:04
I have never been very good at this sort of thing but can some mathematical expert come up with the actual sum in euro that is lost - I got totally lost somewhere between 3.5 million euros to 35 million euros in lost/stolen/unaccounted for income working on a basic 0.14 per unit (i.e., before the new tariff).
Where can I buy a dunces cap?
Robert Zammit
Mar 9th 2010, 13:57
WOW .... i call help Storm (movie X-men) need more Electricty...
E Gatt
Mar 9th 2010, 13:05
The decrease in power generation is probably a result of a number of factors, mainly the economic slowdown, increased responsibility because of realistic tariffs, increased use of energy saving equipment, and heightened environmental awareness.
Smart meters should make it more difficult for the electricity thieves, however electricity theft is quite high (and pushing up our bills). If you suspect someone of stealing electricity, it’s you duty to report this to Enemalta. There is an confidential online facility http://www.enemalta.com.mt/page.asp?n=theft_report
Adrian Cachia
Mar 9th 2010, 12:33
Who will explain to the public whether these are losses or if all that power is being stolen off Enemalta's Overhead Lines?
Christopher Pollard
Mar 9th 2010, 12:21
So there is a gap of some 11% of the generated total which is classed as "unbilled". What falls into this category?
s atlamyob
Mar 9th 2010, 11:38
Watt?
John Micallef
Mar 9th 2010, 11:22
Does this mean we had 16%+ losses in power?? This is not water, that spills!
Can someone correct me, but if i remember well this costs far more than we saved to change Malta to use energy saving bulbs!! Ridiculous isn't it!!??
E.Muscat
Mar 9th 2010, 11:17
This means that there is approx. 11 per cent 'losses' : Theft(preventable) and transmission losses(only some are preventable).
The overall result is acceptable but can still be improved with the smart meters.