Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt said that while the government would invest in alternative sources of energy, it needed to be stressed that electricity production from alternative sources was more expensive than that from fossil fuels.

Answering questions in Parliament, Dr Gatt said alternative sources of energy were useful because they were good for the environment, but the only source of electricity which was cheaper than fossil fuels was actually nuclear energy.

Malta would not build a nuclear power station, but it was planning to have an undersea cable with Sicily which would enable Malta to buy energy from wherever it wanted.

Dr Gatt said the windfarm project announced before the general election was still on the table. This would be a cutting edge, deep sea windfarm, of the type which, as far as he knew, had only been built off Scotland and Sicily. The Malta Resources Authority had identified areas suitable for such a wind farm and a call for tenders was being prepared.