Updated - adds Enemalta reaction
Enemalta this afternoon acknowledged that the filtration system which removes fumes produced from the fuel tanks of the power station extension has a missing valve. It said however that a temporary water seal had proved effective, and therefore foul smells which Labour MP Joe Mizzi complained about in a statement in the morning were unlikely to have come from the power station.
In his statement, Mr Mizzi said that heavy fuel oil stored in four tanks at the BWSC power station extension in Delimara has been causing foul smells over the area.
He said that although the power station had been using heavy fuel oil since 1992, the fuel had to date been maintained at a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius, thus practically eliminating the odours.
But the machines at the new BWSC plant use heavy fuel oil at much higher temperatures, sometimes exceeding 90 degrees. When burnt at this temperature, heavy fuel oil produces a substantial amount of emissions as well as odours, the Labour MP said.
He said that each of the four tanks was supposed to have an air filtering system to ensure that emissions were clean. But the system was not working well.
Furthermore, because of the way the plant was designed, clean air was not finding its way into the tanks as it was supposed to.
He said that in order to ease the problem, it had been decided that vents would be put in water so that the heavy fuel oil emissions would not immediately rise in the air. However this temporary system had shown itself to be ineffective since the smoke and smell from the heavy fuel oil were still escaping into the air to the detriment of resident neighbours.,
The problems would continue for as long as the filtering system was not replaced by a more efficient one, Mr Mizzi said.
ENEMALTA REACTION
In a reaction, Enemalta said all four tanks where the fuel is stored at around 90 degrees are equipped with activated carbon filters which remove fumes which may be emitted from the tanks either when the tank is being heated up from cold or when the tank is being filled up.
"There is however a missing valve on the system which has been ordered and is expected to arrive soon."
The corporation said that since last month, engineers have implemented a temporary solution; a water seal has been fitted to the tanks and this has proven to be effective and hardly any smells are noticeable in the vicinity of the tanks.
It said that MEPA had carried out a number of site inspections and whilst there was a smell of fuel close to the tank area, this was not noticeable from other locations within the plant.
"All indications show that based on events and experience to date it is highly unlikely that the source of the smells experienced by the Marsaxlokk residents is from the new Delimara Power Station Extension."
It also pointed out that the fuel tanks are not equipped with chimneys as erroneously stated. The extension does have two chimneys with two stacks each, but these are a different system and thus not connected to the fuel tanks. These are used after the emissions from the fuel combustion in the Diesel engines go through a rigorous emissions abatement process.
"At this stage one needs to appreciate that the plant is still in the testing phase. The plant is being tested prior to handing over to Enemalta. The fact that there are faults which are being addressed by the contractor does not mean that the filtration system installed on the tanks in ineffective as alleged by Mr Mizzi. Activated carbon filters of the type used on these tanks are in fact amongst the most effective filtration devices available on the market."