As it commemorates its 30th anniversary, Enemalta Corporation is being faced with a number of issues involving major decisions and projects that will need to be undertaken in the coming five to 10 years. Meeting the growing demand for electricity, while at the same time generating cleaner energy and using it more efficiently is no simple task and requires a whole transformation and a new mindset, Enemalta chairman Alexander Tranter tells Francesca Vella

Walking alongside the steam turbines at the Marsa power station, Ing. Tranter explains that some of them are so old that they are rarely used nowadays and the plant operates the more modern and efficient machines located towards the far end of the power station.

The present machines at Marsa will be shut down completely by 2015 at the latest and possibly even earlier if the Delimara plant expansion happens as fast as is required. According to an EU directive, Marsa’s end date would be: either 2015, or 20,000 hours of uninterrupted operation beyond 1 January 2008, which would mean 2012.

Ing. Tranter explained that if the Marsa plant is not used all the time, its end date could be extended to 2015 at the latest.

“So we need to hurry up the extension of Delimara. The more generation capacity we have there, the more leeway we have on how and how much we use of Marsa. If we don’t have Delimara expanding as fast as we want, Marsa will have to continue operating as is and this will shorten its lifespan to 2012.”

EU directives put on certain obligations, particularly with regard to greenhouse gas emissions.

“We have specific limits on emissions that must not be exceeded and we’re doing everything in our power not to violate them, although this will certainly come at a cost for the corporation” said Ing. Tranter.

He said that old machines will not only need to be decommissioned and replaced with more modern and efficient ones, but Enemalta will undoubtedly also have to change the fuel used.

Currently Enemalta uses low sulphur fuel oil and gasoil, which it is considering replacing with a cleaner fuel – natural gas – within five to 10 years time.

“We are expecting and planning to shift to natural gas, but we are also looking at equipment that would operate on different fuel sources. The wider our options are, the better it is for the country. It might sometimes be cheaper to buy gas because of its abundance compared to oil or vice versa.”

The shift from oil to gas will not come without its very own complications. How are you going to bring the gas to the island in the quantities required for it to be used in the generation of electricity?

Ing. Tranter points out three options, which all need to be analysed from three points of view – strategic, security and price – to see which one would be the best and most feasible option for the country.

The first would be the transportation of natural gas along a submarine pipeline between Malta and Sicily. The two other options involve the transportation of the gas in a similar way to the way oil is brought to Malta, namely in tankers. The difference lies in the form that the gas is transported.

The gas could be brought in to the island in its liquid or compressed form. Developments with regards to Liquid Natural Gas would allow the liquid to be changed into a gas either on board the tanker or at a dedicated shore facility. It would then be supplied directly to the power station. This would very much mirror today’s situation, although it may be necessary for some of the on site storage tanks to be changed when the change in fuel actually takes place, the chairman explains.

The difference with Compressed Natural Gas lies in the fact that although it is highly compressed, it still remains in gaseous form.

As for the gas pipeline, Ing. Tranter questions the feasibility of this option, which could possibly be the most expensive of the three.

The pipeline will first need to be laid and as he made reference to another of Enemalta’s major projects involving another interconnector that will link the national electricity grid to the European grid, Ing. Tranter explained that the gas pipeline is probably the less feasible option.

“What do consumers look at? My quick and easy answer is: electricity. With the pipeline you still need to get gas in and use it to generate electricity, while the interconnector would be a bit of a short circuit.

“We wouldn’t need to go through the whole conversion process from fuel to electricity, so let’s go for that, because that’s what’s the most important – electricity. We need to prioritise and decide which option to go with. So we’re not excluding the gas pipeline completely. We are simply trying to position all our options.

“The interconnector will cost Lm50 million and the gas pipeline would possibly cost another Lm50 million or so. We just don’t have a country that can afford millions and millions and millions of liri.”

Ing. Tranter went on to make his point regarding the linkage to the European grid. As he explained that the interconnector would end the country’s isolation in this regard, he spoke about the importance for the country to be networked with the rest of Europe.

“Interconnection to the European grid would mean further fortifying our electricity supply. It would mean that yes, we would still be dependent on someone else, but in reality this is the situation today, with Malta being reliant on external sources for all its fuel requirements. Enemalta’s view is to increase our options by having an interconnector in place,” he insisted.

It will satisfy the country’s quest to be networked to continental Europe, giving us the potential to buy, at whatever the market price, a whole different range of energy from a variety of sources – nuclear, wind, photovoltaics, biomass, coal or other fossil fuel.

Will it be more expensive to what is currently produced in Malta? Ing. Tranter said that that would be a situation that will need to be seen to when the interconnection comes in line, but the option will always be there once the country is networked.

The interconnection that Enemalta has in mind, however, is not intended to completely replace, or be big enough to completely shut down all other local generation capacity. The corporation is planning to have a capacity of 200 megawatts, of which it is possible that only 100 megawatts will be used at one go. The remaining capacity will be used whenever the need may rise, thus acting as a form of security or buffer.

The current total installed capacity at both power stations is 571 megawatts and a peak of about 420 megawatts is reached during summer, when all air-conditioning systems operate at full blast.

The interconnection will therefore supplement energy generation at Delimara and it will always have to be a mix of both.

The new link will also open up the sector of electricity distribution to limited competition. While not being completely dependent on the interconnector, the country would open up channels of utilising energy from alternative sources, not only from alternative locations.

Competition will always be limited, because anyone wishing to sell buy energy from the European grid, will never be able to buy all the energy that the country requires. The link will not be regulated by Enemalta, but by a separate entity, possibly a transmission authority.

“When the Marsa power station is completely decommissioned, having the link to Sicily coming into Malta, we believe, in the Pembroke area, will also allow us to retain the present strategic advantage of having dual geographic sources. If something goes wrong with the Delimara power station, we will always have energy from the European grid to turn to”.

Enemalta is currently receiving submissions from interested parties regarding their thoughts on the project and Ing. Tranter explained that the corporation is trying to seek the support of the European Commission for the project, while the government is also seeking to attract structural EU funding.

During a recent visit to Malta, EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs said he was in favour of the project, but Ing. Tranter argued that one needed to get to the nitty-gritty of it.

“To what level will the EU support us and what would the fallback situation be? There are a few options of different financial plans to use, like a public private partnership investment possibly, then leasing the interconnector over 30 to 40 years”.

Ing. Tranter maintained that the project will be unique for the country. So far, only a telecom submarine interconnection has been laid; comparably, the electricity interconnection will be a more expensive project since the cable will be more than ten times larger.

The interconnector will potentially also allow us to export energy. There could be situations at night time for example, where the power plants would be running at full blast and the price would be right.

“Theoretically we have a bit of a higher installed capacity, especially at night, when the load is relatively low. With all our machines in working order, we could potentially export 100 megawatts for example. One might argue: but then would it make sense to import it? But you never know, there could be situations of load balancing and it could possibly make sense once the interconnector is in place,” he said.

Naturally, such a drastic change would call for a restructuring process of the corporation. Ing. Tranter explained that while there is already a separation of the generation and distribution divisions, the two will need to be isolated more formally in future.

“The issue of reorganising Enemalta would involve a process similar to putting up Chinese walls between the two divisions and having each operate separately. They will be like different entities with their own management, structure, budget, authorities, workforce and so on.

“This would create a more formal arrangement of what one entity should do to the other,” said Ing. Tranter, adding that although this process will not be necessary immediately, it will nonetheless have to come about sooner or later.

Two of Enemalta’s more immediate commitments involve the installation of smart meters and equipment for remote emissions monitoring.

With regard to smart metering, Ing. Tranter said this project was one of the corporation’s first priorities. It will involve a tremendous investment, since intelligent metres prices range between Lm50 and Lm200 and they will need to be installed in all of the 270,000 households and commercial/industrial establishments.

Ing. Tranter said the hefty investment will also influence the cost of distribution of electricity, but it will help to curb theft as things will be registered quicker, since the meters will be wired up to a central system.

As for emissions monitoring, Ing. Tranter explained that having an in-built online monitoring system, the corporation really has to make sure that emissions are really up to standard; otherwise alarms will be raised that emissions limits are being exceeded.

Currently, Enemalta monitors emissions using portable units. Within the next six months however, the corporation is expected to have installed online emissions monitors in all its combustion systems.

These will monitor emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxides and dust, on a per second basis. Ing. Tranter admitted that the cleaner the emissions, the more expensive it will be to produce electricity.

“There’s no cutting corners about this, but we are giving a lot of importance to our obligations with regard to emissions. We will do everything in relation to Enemalta’s strategic generation and transmission plans, but yes, emissions are an issue which we need to monitor and address by using cleaner fuel and newer more efficient machines”.