Electro Gas Malta consortium was chosen to build a new power station run on gas and related gas supply infrastructure. German firm Siemens are involved as lead developers with a 20 per cent stake.

The other investors are Socar, the Azerbaijan State energy company, Gasol and a group of Maltese investors.

The Maltese investors are Tumas Group and Gasan. They hold a 30 per cent stake in the consortium. Gasol, a UK-based company, holds another 30 per cent while Socar has the remaining 20 per cent.

The announcement of the preferred bidder was made this morning by Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi.

The consortium will sign a 18-year agreement to supply Enemalta with electricity and liquefied natural gas to run the BWSC plant that will be converted in due course.

Dr Mizzi said the company will sell electricity at a fixed price for five years, with subsequent revisions that will ensure a price "cheaper than that for an oil-fired plant".

The consortium will build a floating gas storage unit and onshore regassification plant.

Once the deal is signed in the coming days, the consortium will buy Enemalta's subsidiary Malta Power and Gas for €30 million.

This will be used by the Government to reduce families' electricity bills by an average of 25 per cent in March next year.

Businesses will have lower bills in 2015.

He described the winning consortium as "a world class" team and the bid was able to get bank finance for the project.

He said this was the first time that the private sector will invest in power generation.

The private company will build a gas-fired plant, which it will own, and the related infrastructure to store and supply liquefied natural gas.

There will be a separate lease agreement with Enemalta on how much rent to pay for the public land the consortium will require to build the necessary infrastructure.

The consortium will have an offshore storage capacity of 126,000 cubic metres, a third less than the maximum storage that had been identified in the permit application.

It could require between 10 and 12 gas shipments per year.

 

 

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