The Labour Party’s spokesman on the environment, Leo Brincat, has committed his party, if elected, to adhere to the European Union’s targets on renewable energy, but possibly to re-consider the “mix” of energy sources to achieve them.

It is perfectly natural for new administrations anywhere to carry out an assessment of policy on taking office – so called Policy Reviews – when the books are opened to scrutiny and adjustments are made in the light of the evidence revealed.

Mr Brincat’s announcement that he would re-examine the renewable energy mix is, therefore, neither unusual nor administratively unsound.

The current Government has struggled throughout this legislature and before to take the steps necessary to meet the renewable energy targets which have been set by the EU. Malta has been committed to making provision of 10 per cent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020 for several years, yet major progress on the ground has continued to elude it.

The real doubt which has arisen – and which a new Labour administration would presumably review – is over the development of wind-farms and the need to encourage greater use of solar energy.

The current plan is to have one offshore wind farm and two land-based, but it appears that operators in the renewable energy sector are casting doubts on the feasibility of the government’s plans to rely on wind energy.

There may now be a realisation that the proposed offshore wind farm at Mellieha may be unfeasible. On the other hand, the government has denied any slippage in its plans and pointed out that studies to establish the viability of the off-shore wind farm were still under way since without this the two onshore wind farms would not be viable either.

The Government has apparently recently placed greater emphasis in its public statements on the formation of solar farms to harvest energy from the sun, including the possibility of encouraging investment in communal solar farms for those unable to put up their own solar panels, for example flat-dwellers.

This seems to be a sensible attempt by the government to broaden the use of solar energy beyond its current rather limited focus. The fact that over the last few years only about six thousand households have availed themselves of the scheme to invest in photovoltaic panels is indicative that the majority of homes in Malta have still not tapped into this most accessible of renewable sources. Malta still has a long way to go before a real impact by solar energy is made.

Although action is belatedly in hand to replace our fossil fuel burning energy plants with less polluting and more reliable sources of energy, the need to back this up with substantial sources of alternative, renewable energy is still absent.

The bottom line is that Malta’s efforts to meet the target of 10 per cent renewable energy by 2020 (it should be noted that most other EU countries are committed to a target of 20 per cent) is still being hampered by lack of decision on the creation of wind farms and insufficient investment in solar energy. The under-sea interconnection cable linking Malta to the European grid in Sicily is also well behind schedule.

While the Labour Party’s intention to examine the renewable energy mix if it gets elected, may be commendable, the fundamental and inescapable thrust of any review should be to ensure that Malta’s efforts to achieve viable alternative sources of energy are pursued with greater effect.