The government has been promising alternative energy since 1996. For confirmation, refer to a statement in 1996 by the then minister Francis Zammit Dimech.

He had said that by 2006 five per cent of our total energy requirements would be sourced from wind and or solar sources. The 1998 and 2003 electoral manifestos stated there would be extensive reliance on solar and wind energy to reduce our reliance on our 'power stations'.

Without entering into the merits or demerits of Sikka l-Bajda as the 'ideal' site for offshore wind power generation, readers might be interested to note that this decision has been taken without our having an official energy and renewable energy policy.

To the best of my knowledge 'A proposal for an energy policy' dates to June 2006, while 'The renewable energy policy for Malta' has remained in draft form since August 2006.

The latest draft report on renewable energy policy states that no decision had been taken to go ahead with the Sikka l-Bajda project because of the impact on 'current established economic activity'. The report states that 'current analysis indicates that disadvantages of this mode of renewable energy sources exploitation may outweigh its advantages'.

What new and recent studies have triggered government to carry out such a U-turn? Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said in his 2006 Budget speech that apart from the fact that large wind farm and solar energy farms are not recommended for the Maltese islands - although the government has not discounted further exploration of the feasibility of sea-based wind farms - their contribution is expected to be minimal in terms of energy generation?

How true is it that the government ruled out a priori certain locations like Gozo for alternative energy wind farms in spite of promoting it as an eco island? And if so, was this decision taken on the basis of environmental considerations or purely political ones?

I am a strong believer in the potential of wind energy. But the government needs to come forward with a scientific road map on how it decided on this location in spite of reports and suggestions to the contrary. I hope this was not a Eureka-like kneejerk reaction by our Prime Minister as in the case of the Xagħra l-Ħamra project, the ultimate U-turn by a Nationalist government.

Let us also hope that this is not just a sign of panic on the government's part as it has suddenly remembered that Accession Treaty set a target of five per cent of the total electric energy to be generated in 2010 to come from renewable sources. This, at a time when we have not even started tapping 0.5 per cent of our total energy requirements from alternative energy sources.