The planning authority had no option but to turn down the application for the Sikka l-Bajda wind farm last week after Mepa chairman Vince Cassar recommended the termination of the Environment Impact Assessment before it was finished, according to experts.
The planning authority last Thursday turned down – on environmental grounds – an application submitted by the former government in 2009 for the building of a 19-turbine wind farm at Is-Sikka l-Bajda off Mellieħa.
The marine area where the wind farm was to be located is designated for protection and surrounded by a Special Protected Area and a Special Area of Conservation. All board members voted for the refusal except for the Opposition’s nominee, Ryan Callus.
At the end of a three-hour hearing last Thursday, Mr Cassar – who is also the authority’s environment director under this administration – admitted he wrote to the government to stop the EIA process.
A strong reaction followed, especially from Opposition members attending the public hearing. They said it was irregular for the environment director to recommend to the applicant, in this case the government, to stop further studies legally required for such a permit to be granted.
Former Mepa environment director Petra Caruana Dingli told Times of Malta: “I am not saying that wind turbines should be placed at Sikka l-Bajda, but I question why the applicant agreed to stop the EIA process prematurely but then did not withdraw the application. As the EIA was not concluded, the Mepa board had no option but to turn down the application”.
Mr Cassar took full responsibility for the decision and said he had no problem releasing the letter.
However, it is dated September 23, when Mepa had already told The Sunday Times of Malta two months earlier that it had informed the government “months ago” there would be no point in pursuing further studies, which this newspaper reported on July 14.
Asked to explain, Mepa yesterday said the authority had at that point “communicated informally to the applicant”.
Further studies will not add any substantial value to the decision
In the “official” September letter, Mr Cassar stated initial studies showed the project was a non-starter.
“Although the EIA process is not formally exhausted it is clearly evident from the studies carried out so far that there are significant multiple impacts on the environment that cannot be effectively mitigated.
“It is our opinion there is no point in pursuing further long-drawn and expensive EIA procedures that will clearly not add any substantial value to the decision-making process”.
The wind farm was to deliver some 40 per cent of Malta’s obligation to provide 10 per cent of its electricity needs from renewable energy. There was no answer from the government on how this shortfall would be replaced.
Presentations at the hearing referred to a government shift from wind to solar energy. The change followed the agreement signed with China’s Shangai Electric to supply solar modules in Malta and Europe, beneficial to China’s debt-ridden solar energy industry.
Questions have therefore been raised on whether Mepa’s decision was a political one. “Perhaps it is more convenient for the [energy] ministry to not assume full responsibility for abandoning this project, but to shift some of it onto Mepa?” Dr Caruana Dingli said.