A wind turbine has been installed by Enemalta Corporation to evaluate the capacity of power which can be generated by the weather that hits the Maltese islands.

Investments, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt, paid a visit to the site of the turbine which is within the Enemalta substation grounds in Marfa, near Cirkewwa. Speaking after a tour of the site, Dr Gatt said the Malta Labour Party had not yet answered the question he put to the opposition, as to how long it would keep the water and electricity surcharge at half what it was now. In the same breath, Dr Gatt said the government had already announced that it would be holding the surcharge at 50 per cent till June 2008.

Dr Gatt explained that the government was already subsidising the water and electricity surcharge by half, which amounted to some Lm22 million annually.

Dr Gatt said the wind turbine would allow Enemalta to be in a better position to give better, and impartial advice to consumers, as to what they can do to reduce their dependency on electricity generated by conventional sources.

Bearing this in mind, Dr Gatt said, the government needed to work out whether it would be viable to subsidise the capital expenditure involved in the installation, or the set up of alternative energy sources, in an effort to cut the expense of conventional energy production subsidies, in the medium to long term.

Dr Gatt said it was important to be realistic, and that the most we could hope for in the immediate future is to generate between five to 10 per cent of the grid’s output.

Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter also explained that Enemalta was also carrying out an evaluation of the viability of wind generated energy at a domestic level to accompany other alternative energy sources, including the photovoltaic setup that Enemalta has in Kappara and Bugibba.