A €1.46 million project to construct a communal solar panel farm for people for no space for solar panels on their roofs is currently in its third week of construction.
The solar panel farm, the size of approximately two football pitches and made out of 3571 panels generating a total of 1 Megawatt, which will be able to provide approximately 370 families. The project, being handled by Water Services co-operation on the roof of a reservoir in Fiddien, Rabat, was visit by Minister for Energy Joe Mizzi this morning.
Speaking to the press, Mizzi said that the scheme, called the 'Communal PV Scheme' is being developed as part of the plans to increase renewable energy and hit EU targets for 2020, and is reducing CO2 emissions by 600 tonnes.
About 350 families applied for the scheme, in which "people will invest as though they are going to invest in solar energy in their own home." The same benefits will apply to those investing in this scheme as those investing in solar panels on their own roofs under the government solar energy grant, he explained. Those that have invested in the scheme, which is now closed for applications, will see a decrease in their electricity bills, or provided in credits.
Sandro Lauri, Chief Strategy Officer of Energy and Water Agency explained that there were three packages for families to choose from, a 1 Kilowatt peak, 2 Kilowatt peaks or 3 Kilowatt peaks for the price of €1,495 per kilowatt peak. "Those who invested will receive credit on their bill proportional to how much you invested in [..] For the first six years you will receive 15c/unit, and following that they will receive 10.5c/unit credit for the following twenty years." "Those who invested in this scheme will start seeing a reduction in their bill from next month," he added.
CEO of Energy and Water Agency Daniel Azzopardi said,"we are moving in line with the national renewable energy action plan; it is a roadmap which will lead us to 2020 to reach the 10% target. The plan was endorsed by the European Commission and we are basically following the trajectory targets in line with this plan, and we are in line with them. Obviously we need to increase the effort now because residential spaces are pretty much reaching saturation point, so we need to shift to a larger scale of solar farming, and hence this plant."
"With this concept, we married water and energy services to utilize the reservoir space which would have otherwise been left unused," he said. Azzopardi added that the plan is for more farms such as these to be created in the future, and hopes that private investors will also be encouraged to create such projects.
The farm is said to be finished this coming October.
Photos by Michael Camilleri