I am a firm believer in the potential of wind energy. My sole complaint is that we are eight years or so too late in tapping this source and by the time of writing the government has not yet published a national energy plan or even an alternative energy programme.

Although countries like Togo, Mali, Nepal and Mongolia have joined forces with most European states in IRENA - the newly established International Renewable Energy Agency - Malta still has not.

Recently I was told in the House that government would soon announce its policies on wind farms but this has not happened yet.

On the eve of the recent EU summit, the Prime Minister was quoted as having told the journalists accompanying him that further EU funds, apart from those allocated for the Malta-Sicily interconnection, 'may' have also been allocated to kickstart the wind farm project.

And yet, predictably and understandably, he told Parliament on the next day of the summit that it was unlikely that the extra €5 million would be spent on the wind farm initiative since this was still at a preliminary stage.

In Parliament he gave us the impression that most of the studies have been carried out but that bankable data was still needed.

When I recently asked for these studies to be tabled, Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino said that he found no difficulty in doing so at the opportune moment (whenever that may be), while the Prime Minister had told us at the end of a previous summit statement to the House that the information might be too sensitive to disclose due to commercial considerations.

These studies are of paramount importance, particularly if, as I understand, a consultancy firm paid by the Maltese taxpayer was asked to present two different reports on wind energy in general and Sikka l-Bajda in particular at different stages of the process. It seems that the first report ruled it out as a preferred site while the second is now more in favour or, to be more politically correct, less resistant to it.

I have reason to believe that although Gozo offered much more potential in its north shore for such a wind farm, there seems to be some covert government decision not to set up any sizeable wind farms there. This makes a sham of the whole eco island concept the government has been promoting without hardly any tangibles to show so far.

The government still has to explain why until recently it considered deep water wind farms as the most viable option - so much so that calls for expressions of interest had been issued by the Malta Resources Authority in 2006. However, now there has yet again been an apparent change of tack.

If Mott MacDonald in its original report took the line that we should start with a medium-sized land-based wind farm, why was this recommendation ignored? Why was the 2004 wind farm project proposal on land ignored?

Is it or is it not true that when EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs had once visited Malta a mere aerial view was enough for him to realise that we could certainly have supported some land-based turbines.

Something tells me that all this push to go for waste to energy is a desperate bid to have something to show in terms of renewables since our contribution so far to alternative energy has been negligible.

Although I am no bird expert, many have long pointed out to me that government could run foul not only of Birdlife, but also of the EU Habitats Directive if it pushes ahead with its proposal for the installation of a temporary wind monitoring unit at Aħrax point, limits of Marfa.

Is it or is it not true that a prospective PN MEP candidate steered or formed an active part of a committee that helped the government 'justify' Sikka l-Bajda as the 'ideal' location for a wind farm?

It is high time the government owned up and went public with its studies of all the alternative sites it considered and on what technical grounds these were shot down. Particularly as to how many photomontages have been carried out of potential land-based wind farms.

Even if the minister will eventually update his draft energy and renewable energy plans of 2006, no one can blame us for concluding that the government was caught napping.

Mr Brincat is the main opposition spokesman for the environment.