The editorial One Case Where It Pays To Make Waves (July 28), while doing a good job in bringing to a wider public the intention to set up a wave energy farm, then shot itself in both feet because of a lack of background information.

The projected output of 5MW is described as giving “a positive boost to Malta’s so-far abysmal efforts at cutting its dependence on fossil fuels”. That same morning, the Malta Resources Authority’s energy director, Godwin Sant, had given a figure of 7MW for the installed PV capacity, when announcing a further support scheme for PV on government buildings. This is power in the hand, not in the bush or on the ocean wave. And one must not forget the contribution by solar water heaters. Power saved is power not generated by our power stations.

In a wider context, the average daily power demand is around 250-300MW. The future wave energy 6MW, like all renewable energy inconstant, will hardly do much to wean us off fossil fuels by itself.

The “positive boost” tag harks back to a consistent failing of ours: clinging to the belief that there is a unique solution to our energy supply problems. There is no such thing; we need to examine every option. The above is not meant to denigrate the wave energy work and prospects in any way but to point out that taking it out of context does in fact devalue it and can lead to disillusionment if things do not go exactly as planned.

It should also be kept in mind that by now we could easily have been in the second year of generation with some 6-8MW of wind power from a small number (six to eight) of medium-sized wind turbines on Baħrija. We have chosen to drag feet instead.