The options for the site of the Marsa power station are endless, and its future has yet to be determined, a seminar was told yesterday.

But until then, work will continue on demo-lishing the present structure while retaining those parts of the plant that provided electricity for more than six decades.

Engineering, architecture and urban design students have already come up with ideas on how the site could be used, ranging from the creation of open spaces to siting a university or housing, but all options are being considered.

In the meantime, Enemalta officials are busy dismantling the station, which was decommissioned in February last year, much to the relief of the 4,000 Marsa residents and those of the neighbouring localities.

The power station, its history and its future were discussed at a seminar organised by the university’s Industrial Heritage Programme.

The Marsa plant dates to December 1953, when the first equipment was installed underground in what became known as the A Station.

It was gradually enlarged over the years, with turbines and boilers installed above ground for B Station. Among the extensions were the installation of three turbines bought second hand from Palermo and two boilers, Boilers 7 and 8, bought second hand from the UK in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Enemalta plans to find funds to have some of the oldest equipment in the A Station restored

The power station burnt coal for many years before being converted to use oil in 1995. A gas turbine was added in 1990.

In 1987, plans began for building a new power station at Delimara, with the intention of eventually closing down Marsa. That commitment was repeatedly put off until it finally became a reality last year.

According to the air quality studies over the past year, when the plant was put on ‘cold standby’ should a major fault develop at Delimara power station – which has now taken over the whole load of power generation – carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the area were reduced by up to 761,000 tonnes.

A photomontage of how the Marsa power station site will look after all turbines, chimneys and structures (faded in the background) are removed by 2018.

In January, airborne sulphur dioxide concentrations in the Marsa area were over 80 per cent lower than the levels recorded when the power station was still generating electricity.

Engineer Robert Schembri, Enemalta’s projects divisional manager, explained how the beginning of the end for the Marsa power station came when it began the demolition of three chimneys and four fuel tanks.

One of the turbines in the underground part of the Marsa power station, the A Station, which was the oldest part and which has been scheduled for protection.

Some of the oldest equipment in the A Station will be preserved as historical relics, and Enemalta plans to find funds to have them restored. In the meantime, it is developing a new distribution centre a stone’s throw away from the power station as it continues dismantling the turbines and boilers.

Mr Schembri said students from the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology collected parts of dismantled equipment, which they are assembling in the form of a monument, a tribute to the plant that supplied Malta’s electricity for so long.

Two weeks ago, work began on a 1,600-metre tunnel linking the distribution centre to another tunnel in Qormi. The tunnel is expected to be ready in a year, while the entire dismantling of the remaining turbines and boilers is expected to come to an end in 2018.

Timeline

1936: Constuction of a power station (later the underground station or A Station) at Church Wharf, Marsa. The station was to offer “a high degree of protection”

1953: Inauguration of the A Station with a capacity of 15MW

1954: Introduction of a 3-phase, 50-cycle system necessitated the complete changeover of the distribution network installations and equipment

1957: Two submarine cables were laid from Marsa to Comino and from Comino to Gozo

1960: The underground station at Marsa was extended by two Metropolitan Vickers 5MW steam turbines

1965: Extended by a Flat 5.7MW gas turbo alternator

1966: Inauguration of Marsa B Station

1971: B Station contined to be extended with two 30MW boilers and Franco Tosi steam turbines

1987: 60MW Parsons/Rolls Royce steam turbine

1990: 37MW open cycle GE frame 6 gas turbine is added to the Marsa plant

1994: A Station is decomissioned and closed down

2001: Re-commissioning of the electrostatic precipitations to reduce dust emission by 99%

2015: Power station is turned off

2018: Decommissioning, dismantling and demolishing of the power station