Electrofix Director Debbie Schembri. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Joseph Schembri took one last look at the people gathered in the inverter room at Medserv and took a deep breath.

He reached out and flicked the switch on the first one. You could have heard a pin drop.

A low hum filled the room and lights flickered on the control panel in the huge cabinet. His team of five from Electrofix, the representative from Conergy and Medserv engineer Edward Magro waited for some time, monitoring the temperature of the equipment, the impact on the Enemalta distribution centre and myriad other aspects. Throughout the day, they switched on the other five inverters, not finishing until around midnight.

“No, we did not celebrate with champagne,” Electrofix general manager Julian Borg laughed.

“We were all too exhausted. We had been working round the clock to meet the project deadline – which we reached to the day, in spite of all the delays caused by weather and so on since the project started in January. And even once everything was turned on and working, we were still working round the clock for several days until the official opening on July 2. But then the next day we gave everyone a day off and went out for roast suckling pig! Believe me, it was well deserved.”

There have been large solar farms around the world but they are usually split up into smaller sections- Debbie Schembri

The power – 2MW of it – is being provided by 8,000 Conergy photovoltaic panels, which would be an impressive solar farm in its own right but one which is even more impressive when you consider that it is suspended, not roof-mounted.

“This means that Medserv has not ‘lost’ that space and is using the area below the PV panels for everything from parking to storage to production,” director Debbie Schembri explained.

“It is impressive even by international standards and in fact we have been contacted by international media as well as by investors in Dubai,” she added.

“Our engineers had to connect all the panels to each other and to the grid using some 12km of cables, very often suspended above the ground on harnesses as there was nowhere for them to walk! Imagine the panels were the leaves and everything had to be fed down from twigs to branches to trunk... And we managed to do it on time, without interfering with Medserv’s operations.”

Medserv had already invested in alternative energy to cover their own use. The 20,640sq.m. solar farm – the size of five football grounds – will be saving over 3,100 tons of carbon emissions a year, the equivalent of 520,000 trees.

The €4 million project was a pure investment based on the expected return from the sale of the power generated through feed-in tariffs.

Conergy left everything in Electrofix’s hands and their representative only came down for the last few days before the farm went live.

“I don’t want to show off but he was impressed; there have been large solar farms around the world but they are usually split up into smaller sections, which has an impact on the engineering of the project as well as the complexity of the grid connection. We are talking about a lot of power here!” Ms Schembri said. “We are going up to Conergy’s head office to discuss further collaboration.”

The project has already paid off. Conergy sells its products in numerous countries across Europe but realised that it was not getting the full potential of the market through retailing. It has now been entrusted by the German company to open offices in four countries to offer the added advantage of installation.

It is impressive even by international standards and in fact we have been contacted by international media as well as by investors in Dubai

“Conergy is a manufacturer. That is what they do well. The company felt that it would be better to leave it in our hands as we would be able to offer installation and maintenance. We will use the expertise that we have accumulated in Malta over the past 15 years, supplemented by local labour,” she added.

Electrofix started out doing mechanical and electrical work but its foray into alternative energy set it apart and it is now a recognised leader in the field, having handled some of the largest installations in Malta, including several for the Private Schools Association, Malta International Airport and Mcast.

“I am a great believer in solar energy and I have become a bit of an evangelist for it. I believe that the time has come for a lot more awareness about photovoltaics and this is a long-term investment ­ – whether you are looking at domestic or industrial installations.

“We really encourage our customers not to consider only the original outlay but to look at the return over the years, which depends on the efficiency and output you get, as well as the lifespan and maintenance costs. And people overlook the fact that installation can affect output by up to 40 per cent!

“Conergy is actually very competitive, even with regards to other major brands, but its equipment gives much higher output. I do not forecast any major changes to efficiency in photovoltaics in the near future. The technology for more efficiency exists but it is very expensive. The photovoltaics are designed for use in Northern Europe, not here in the Mediterranean where the sun’s intensity is so much higher,” she lamented.

She also expressed her disappointment with the current policy which is aimed at feed-in tariffs for roof-mounted photovoltaics but which does not encourage ones on land.

“I can understand this. The policy should look at exploiting all the roofs before it allows people to use up valuable land. But there are disused quarries and other parcels of disturbed land which could be used,” she said.