Earlier this year a revised National Action Plan for renewable energy was published to bring Malta closer to its goals in this important field. These targets require Malta to reach 10% of total energy production through renewable sources. For this reason, today the Ministry for Energy and Water Management officially launched a new subsidised scheme for solar farms larger than 1 megawatt peak.

“We should note that a number of plans established in the original 2010 plans, such as wind turbines, were not completed due to environmental and other reasons. Instead, we are now looking towards the most abundant renewable resource in our country: the sun”, stated Minister Joe Mizzi.

Thanks to a number of schemes in operation over the past years, the energy capacity of solar panels has increased from 15.7 MWp in 2012, to more than 100MWp this year.

Minister Mizzi added that through these schemes, thousands of families are now generating clean energy and benefitting from lower electricity bills. A good number of businesses have also used these opportunities to reduce their costs by investing in clean energy.

“However, as established in the National Plan, there is still a way to go for Malta to reach its 2020 targets. Therefore, last October, after a thorough consultation with all stakeholders, a Solar Farm Policy was launched together with the Planning Authority. This policy aims at guiding investors in choosing sites approved for the development of solar farms, while ensuring that the environment and agricultural land is safeguarded”, stated Minister Mizzi. 

It is estimated that over the next 3 years, businesses will develop solar farms generating up to 50MWp and occupying 700,000 square metres. This newly introduced scheme aims to assist and incentivise the development of such solar farms.

Minister Mizzi explained that until now, energy schemes worked by means of feed-in tariffs established by the government together with grants for residential buildings. This incentive method is however not permissible for larger scale farms under the new EU regulations and state aid rules. This scheme was therefore created on rules approved by the European Commission, and ensures that Government assistance for renewable energy is provided in the most efficient way.

This involves a competitive process whereby investors compete in providing the most attractive tariff rate, which will ensure that the most cost-efficient projects are chosen and assisted. The first tranche was published this week and totals 15MWp. Further allocations are expected to be published in 2018.

Anyone interested is invited to attend the information session which will be held on Monday, 20^th November 2017, at the Ministry for Energy and Water Management’s offices at 52, Old Theatre Street, Valletta.

Minister Mizzi concluded by stating that “The Government is sure that the private sector will recognise this opportunity for investment and that together with the Government’s scheme, we will continue increasing our share of renewable energy, ensuring a cleaner and more sustainable environment”.