Updated 4.40pm - Added ERA right of reply
The Environment and Resources Authority yesterday confirmed a further delay in the completion of the new gas-fired power station in Delimara, saying the approval process had not even started.
The Office of the Prime Minister, which is responsible for the energy portfolio, again refused to give a new deadline.
When asked about the timeframe, Electrogas would only say it had submitted all required studies and applications and was awaiting ERA’s response.
Asked whether the process connected to the environmental permit, which the plant will require before it starts generating electricity, had begun, an ERA spokeswoman replied that the start of the process leading to the integrated pollution prevention and control permit had not been scheduled.
“ERA is assessing the documentation required under the Industrial Emissions Directive, following which a date [for the process to start] will be set”, she added.
According to ERA, the permit process will take at least a month and include a compulsory public consultation process.
“A public meeting will be held towards the end of the public consultation period,” the spokeswoman said.
“During the entire public consultation period, all relevant documentation shall be made available for review and comments by the public, following which ERA shall be taking account of submissions received, thereby ensuring the accountability and transparency of this decision-making process and contribution to public awareness of environmental issues,” she said.
ERA also pointed out that the actual decision on whether to issue the necessary permit or not would also be made during a public meeting.
The LNG tanker that will be moored permanently at Marsa-xlokk Bay to feed the power station has yet to reach Malta. It left from Singapore earlier this month.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat flew to Singapore on August 1 to inaugurate the LNG tanker and said that a new deadline for the power station would be announced.
He told this newspaper “the time frames will be made public soon during a public event”.
Questions sent to the Office of the Prime Minister on the state of play remained unanswered at the time of writing.
In the run-up to the 2013 election, Labour pledged that the new power plant would start generating energy by March 2015.
However, a few months before the deadline, then energy minister Konrad Mizzi admitted there would be a delay of 18 months.
Soon after that, the government announced it had issued an unprecedented €360 million State guarantee in order that the private consortium, involving the local Tumas and Gasan groups, could secure the necessary financing from commercial banks to proceed with the project.
Earlier this year, when the June 2016 deadline had been missed, Dr Mizzi, now a Minister Without Portfolio, said that the new plant would be producing power by the end of summer.
ERA denies statements
In a right of reply, the ERA said it "categorically" denied having confirmed a further delay to the completion of the Delimara power station, or that the approval process had yet to begin.
"To the contrary, the IPPC process, which is the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control process under Industrial Emissions Regulations (LN 10 of 2013), was initiated in June 2014 and ERA clearly explained that it is now approaching a final stage that of a public consultation exercise followed by a period of discussion with the operators on the permit conditions," the ERA said.
"ERA’s remit is to ensure that the permitting process follows the required legal procedures and to ensure accountability and transparency of this decision-making process.
"The authority reiterates that it never conveyed any delays in the completion of the project which will convert HFO to gas in the generation of electricity."