Update 7 - The Mepa Board with an overwhelming majority this afternoon granted Enemalta a permit to operate the Delimara power station extension using heavy fuel oil.
The vote was 10-1 with the only objector being Labour MP Roderick Galdes.
The board said that between January and September next year the power station extension may run on heavy fuel oil. During that time the station will be monitoried by a special committee and the matter will then come again before the board, which will decide whether or not to extend the contract.
The decision was taken after a four-hour meeting during which the board heard Enemalta explain its decision to opt for heavy fuel oil, when objectors argued that it would be better for the environment and public health to use dieesel or gas.
The meeting opened with a presentation by economist Gordon Cordina, who gave the results of a study commissioned by Enemalta. He spoke on the financial and economic costs of using heavy fuel, diesel and gas.
Dr Cordina said that gasoil is 26.7 percent more expensive than heavy fuel oil (HFO) when financial and economic costs are factored in over a 20-year period.
Gas is 6.3 percent more expensive than HFO.
He said that the short term view considering only financial costs, saw gasoil 44 percent more expensive than HFO.
Dr Cordina gave the following power generation costs:
HFO:€99.31 per mwh.
Gasoil €142.97 per mwh.
Gasoil, he added was cleaner and produced less pollutants.
A representative of KPMG, commissioned by Enemalta, said that using gasoil would raise costs by €20m over an eight-month period between May and December 2012, equivalent to a 10.2 percent increase in tariffs.
AIR DISPERSION
The KPMG presentation was followed by a presentation by a representative of ecoserv on air dispersion modelling. The company had been commissioned by Mepa (but also drew up a report for Enemalta for the environment impact assessment).
The company's representative said that pollution exceedances at the power station, with the extension, would be minimal for particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide. (The Environment Directive allows allows some exceedances) The planned capacity extension would not affect compliance with the EU emissions directive.
A spokesman for the Mepa environment directorate said the waste on baseload operation for HFO 1% sulphur was 9880 tonnes while diesel produced none or insignificant amounts. He said that Enemalta is proposing to have 60 20ft containers on site to export the waste.
The Environmental Directorate is recommending the use of either HFO with a maximum of 1% sulphur or diesel. Monitoring of air quality and emissions would have to be done by a joint committee if HFO is used. He said the environment directorate is proposing that Mepa should ask for a letter of comfort from Enemalta of €5.8m plus some €100,000 in fees.
LOCAL COUNCILS VOICE THEIR OBJECTIONS
Engineer Arthur Ciantar presented the board with two samples, one of HFO - a thick substance - and one of gasoil, a clear liquid. He insisted that the use of HFO would increase particulate matter PM2.5 by 63% while the use of diesel would actually mean a decrease of 40%. (Particulate matter is a fine dust that can have an adverse impact on health).
He also argued that maintenance costs are higher when machines operate on HFO.
The local councils of Marsaxlokk, Birzebbuga and Zejtun then started a joint presentation, with Dr Jason Bonnici arguing that fine dust causes cardiovascular and respiratory problems.
Engineer Ciantar insisted that using diesel would not entail raising the power tariffs since the operation would be cheaper than the Marsa power station, working on HFO. Delimara was twice as efficient as Marsa and therefore less fuel was needed to produce electricity.
The cost oer unit at Marsa (using HFO) is 0.208 US cents while Delimara on diesel is 0.1724.
Engineer Ciantar was backed by engineer Edward Mallia.
Replying to questions, the representative of KPMG said it could result that running Delimara on diesel would be cheaper than Marsa on HFO, but that was not within his remit. His remit was to study the cost benefit of the different fuels which could be used in the Delimara extension.