The need to keep the Marsa power station running beyond its maximum operational lifetime has landed Enemalta a €177,000 lump sum penalty and €1,284 daily fine, backdated to July 28, 2011.
Imposed by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, the fines have been levied as the aging power station has overrun an EU-regulated 20,000 hour operational limit.
With three of the power station’s four plants having overrun this limit last July, this means the cash-strapped national energy provider must fork out €468,468 to date, with a further €428 per offending plant every day.
News of the fines first broke last week, with Mepa saying that, following board deliberations, it had decided to fine the energy corporation for having breached the limited lifetime derogation.
Asked why it had taken seven months to decide to impose fines on Enemalta, a Mepa spokesman said the energy corporation had only submitted information on potential technical solutions to the situation last November, following which the planning authority assessed the situation and opted to levy penalties.
The European Commission has initiated infringement proceedings against the government over the continued running of Marsa power station.
Mepa has denied any correlation between its decision to fine Enemalta and the infringement proceedings, with the spokesman insisting that “the process leading up to the decision to impose fines predates the Commission decision to initiate infringement proceedings”.
Marsa power station does not meet existing EU emissions standards – established by the Large Combustion Plant Directive - which came into force in January 2008.
The directive affords older power stations some leeway, giving them a 20,000-hour derogation period from meeting LCPD emissions standards, a deadline three of Marsa’s four plants have now exceeded.
The daily fines imposed by Mepa will presumably lessen when half the power station is shut down this coming June, once the Delimara power station extension becomes fully operational.
But supplying Malta and Gozo with electricity means the other half of the plant built in the 1950s will continue to operate until the submarine interconnector between Malta and Sicily is completed. This is expected to happen in October 2013.
Mepa has given Enemalta an added incentive to completing the interconnector in time. Should Marsa not be shut down by October 31, 2013, daily fines for each offending plant will be doubled to €857.
Already indebted to the tune of €600 million and with year-on-year post-tax losses that hit €45 million in 2009, Enemalta has yet to publish its 2010 or 2011 financial statements.
Finance Minister Tonio Fenech has said the fines were not factored into the corporation’s financial calculations. “It’s a reality that we now have to deal with,” Mr Fenech said.
The Mepa spokesman hinted that the authority had some degree of empathy for Enemalta’s situation, saying “Mepa recognises the overriding requirement for Enemalta to meet Malta’s full energy demand and the real difficulty in applying measures to achieve compliance with emission levels in the short term”.
Funds collected from these penalties will be directed to Mepa’s Environment Fund, which is used to finance environment projects, programmes and schemes.