Alternattiva Demokratika has poured scorn on the green credentials of Sargas, the Norwegian energy company proposing to operate a coal- and biomass-fired power plant with carbon capture and storage technology in Malta.
Financing for the Sargas plan is unclear
“Sargas has attempted to depict itself green by referring to the support of so-called ‘environmental’ NGO Bellona, which is sponsored by fossil fuel companies,” AD said yesterday.
AD chairman Michael Briguglio said while the government had opted for dirty fossil fuels and was not giving the required priority to renewable energy, Labour was resorting to energy populism by promising technological quick-fixes such as carbon capture storage, which was intimately tied to dirty fossil fuel industries in coal and oil.
Besides, it is too risky to rely on technology that is promising to store capture underground, he said. Sustainable development spokesman Carmel Cacopardo said although Sargas’s proposal sounded interesting because it touched on the sensitive issue of electricity tariffs, it made use of a dirty energy source.
In addition, the fact that it proposes to tackle emissions by sending them elsewhere through “experimental” carbon capture technology meant the proposal was not based on clean energy.
The proposal would also endanger the employment of Enemalta workers, Mr Cacopardo said, adding that financing for the Sargas plan was unclear.
AD is insisting that Malta should shift to gas-generated power as early as possible and increase its investment in clean renewable energy to reach the 10 per cent target committed to the EU by 2020.