Delimara’s new power station was experiencing constant faults, causing disruptions and failing to give Enemalta its full potential, Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi said yesterday.

He told Parliament the plant, supplied by Danish firm BWSC, had sustained 164 faults in the first nine months of this year, leading to stoppages in some machines.

Though the new plant was more efficient than the Marsa power station or Delimara’s older model, the savings made were still not enough to stop Enemalta from making losses, he said. The corporation’s losses this year would amount to €45 million.

Between July and September, 29 such faults occurred

Faults included leakages in several parts of the machines and problems in the boilers, conveyor belts, the alignment of high pressure pipes and jamming of work stations.

On top of this, the plant, which he described as a “complicated prototype design”, required a lot of maintenance, to the extent that it was very rare to have all eight machines working at the same time.

It was usual for two of them to be switched off for maintenance and two were offline because of faults.

Speaking to Times of Malta, Dr Mizzi said the BWSC machines and the plant’s filtering system were a “very complex” system that was causing headaches to Enemalta’s engineers.

“While faults have been reduced, their incidence is still unacceptable as these are causing disruption to the plant.

“Between July and September, 29 such faults occurred.

“Unfortunately, the design and nature of the plant is such that it requires very labour-intensive procedures and significant maintenance interventions.

“This reduces the ability of Enemalta to maximize the use of these machines,” he said.

Dr Mizzi said the conversion of BWSC machines to gas “will do away with complex abatement procedures” and will improve operations and reduce faults.

It would also cut emissions significantly, he said.

All faults were repaired by the suppliers at their expense as the plant is still under warranty.