In a weekend interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday the Prime Minister said something blindingly obvious, but which was worth stressing, just the same. The decisions the country takes on its energy supply and generation will affect the country for decades to come, he said. “If we get this wrong, we get everything dramatically wrong.”
One has to bear in mind that Sargas is a commercial company- Lino Spiteri
Lawrence Gonzi went on to accuse the opposition leader with creating “an illusion among the public that we can avoid the impact of the international price of oil with fairy tales”. In a somewhat abrupt manner that contrasted with the careful stance of his Finance Minister he seemed to be referring to a proposal by Sargas, a Norwegian company, to supply emissions-free and very cheap energy from a barge built in Korea that would be entrenched in an excavated area next to the Delimara power station.
This has become known as the John Dalli proposal because the former veteran Nationalist Minister and Malta’s current European Commissioner had introduced the CEO of the company, to which he had acted as a consultant when he was a backbencher in 2007, to the Prime Minister 18 months ago. It is emerging that the Labour Party sees merit in the proposal and is prepared to consider it further to help make good the opposition’s promise to slash water and electricity bills, though the proposal, if it progressed, would take four years to implement.
If it was not the Sargas alternative that he called a fairy tale, the Prime Minister still offhandedly as much as wrote it off before Enemalta has completed its technical studies of it. He asked how the opposition leader could make statements that bind him to particular solutions that are today being questioned and for which there is still not enough technical advice available. “What he is proposing,” he told his interviewer, “is an experimental thing that will take us back to old types of solutions, and generate new uncertainties in the process.”
In contradictory fashion he added that while he was “of course open” to the Sargas proposal, he was not “not quite so enthusiastic about this type of power station and am not sure that it would really be the most intelligent thing for us to do.” He felt Sargas were offering experimental, new technology. “If it is so good, why is it not spread all over the Mediterranean?” he asked, apparently forgetting that the technology for the Delimara power station extension is being prototyped in Malta.
Dr Gonzi also ignored a claim by Sargas that the technology was not a prototype and was being used successfully in Stockholm. The Finance Minister too, interviewed by Maltatoday on Sunday, claimed that Sargas were offering a prototype. Nevertheless he was not dismissive like the Prime Minister. He said that, unlike the opposition, he would not say he had a solution (to the energy problem) before he has “a technical report clearly stating that this process is doable, environmentally safe and that it reaps the financial results which are being promised.” That is fair enough. The minister, who was quite solid in the wide-ranging interview, pointed out that the government could not “make a direct deal” with any particular company. In this case, he said, if the government had a favourable technical opinion on the technology, it would either buy the technology or, more probably, issue a tender to buy a volume and award it to the company offering the lowest price.
That too makes sense. A Finance Minister cannot speak otherwise. He was also right to point out, especially since he is an accountant by profession, that while Sargas say they will front the high cost of building their power station, their outlay would be recovered through what they charge Malta (thereby spreading over a long period the capital investment that would have had to be made by Enemalta).
Less certain, giving the Prime Minister’s warning and virtual writing off the Sargas technology is whether options are being kept open, allowing for the fact that power must be generated and that the Marsa power station has to close down if we are not to incur hefty EU fines.
In this regard, one also has to bear in mind that Sargas is a commercial company, out to make a profit for its shareholders. It is understandable that it would drum up the merits it sees in its technology. What it is saying has to be viewed objectively, but critically, without infernal politics being brought into it. I would not presume to comment about the technical aspects of the Sargas proposal. But I confess to being influenced to what Prof. Edward Mallia, who is technical and has absolutely no political cart to push, had to say about it.
He was quoted by Maltatoday as follows: “Although Malta is not being offered a miracle cure, the proposals for zero emission technology should be considered by the government. Although I do have some reservations about the technology itself (as it is not very well established) the government should seriously consider the proposal. The proposal has arrived on the scene when the government and Enemalta have already committed themselves to the Delimara Power Station and the Sicily cable. A study should be conducted and should involve the new company, as well as Enemalta engineers, to consider all aspects to create a holistic report.”
A question which remains hanging is why the analysis of a proposal made 18 months ago has not yet been completed. Especially given the Prime Minister’s warning detailed above, to which he correctly added that such major decisions cannot be implemented overnight and a decision to go for one solution today will take years to implement.