Work on the conversion of the BWSC plant in Delimara from heavy fuel oil to gas would start in January next year and be completed by October, according to an energy portal.

The website, PennEnergy, reported that China’s Shanghai Electric Power signed a deal with Finnish engineering company Wärtsilä for the conversion of the 140MW power station.

This is the first time that a clear deadline has been given for the start and completion of the gas conversion. The government had been criticised last December after the deal signed with Shanghai Electric made no reference to a deadline.

The eight diesel engines of the plant commissioned in 2012 had also been built by Wärtsilä.

Tan Qing, project manager for SEP Malta, told PennEnergy “the project in Malta is Shanghai Electric Power's first step in Europe”.

Last year, Shanghai Electric reached a multi-million euro deal with the government for a 33 per cent shareholding in Enemalta and majority ownership of the BWSC plant.

Electrogas, a private consortium with Maltese and foreign ownership is building the liquefied natural gas infrastructure at Delimara and a 250 MW gas power station.

The LNG terminal will also be supplying gas to the BWSC plant. The government had said it expected the first electricity produced from gas to be available in June 2016.