Marsa air might be a little smoggier than usual for the next few days as the power station’s boiler number eight is brought spluttering back to life.

The boiler has been undergoing repairs for the past four months and is expected to be brought back online between today and tomorrow.

Once it is fully functional, its sister boiler number seven will be powered down to undergo scheduled maintenance, expected to be concluded at some point in June.

It will then be kept in standby mode throughout the summer, when air conditioners and an influx of tourists pushes electricity demand up.

Marsa’s ageing power station is already running on borrowed time, with three of its four plants having overrun EU-imposed maximum running hours in July 2011.

Two of those plants – comprising four boilers in all – were shut down last December when the Delimara power station extension became operational.

Enemalta was fined €177,000 just over a year ago by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority for its continued use of the power station. It has also been paying a €428 daily fine for each offending plant, with fines set to double come October 31. The European Commission has already signalled its disapproval of the continued running of the plant and last January warned the Government it was considering taking the case to the European Court of Justice.

Both the current Government and the preceding one have said the power station will be shut down as soon as the interconnector linking Malta to Europe’s electricity grid is completed by the end of the year.