Labour leader Alfred Sant yesterday pledged that a new Labour government would work on a focused programme with the aim of generating five per cent of the national energy needs from alternative sources by 2010.
Speaking during a visit to Solar Systems Ltd in Marsa, Dr Sant blamed the lack of political will for the country’s failure to effectively tap alternative sources of energy.
He said the PN government has been making promises regarding alternative energy since 1987, when it had pledged to commission studies regarding the use of solar, wind and wave energy, among others.
Dr Sant said that in 1995, Minister Francis Zammit Dimech had promised to generate five per cent of the national energy needs from alternative sources by 2005.
However, only 0.22 per cent of the country’s needs are currently generated from alternative and renewable sources of energy, said Dr Sant, adding that Malta is lagging far behind compared to other EU countries.
“It is not just due to the price of oil that we should be using renewable sources of energy, but also because we could save money by doing so,” said Dr Sant.
He said that in 1998, the PN government had promised that households would have solar systems installed and this would reduce the burden on the power station, while in 2003, the government had also promised to develop solar and wind energy.
In February 2006, on the other hand, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had said that the study regarding the viability of wind farms showed that there were areas in the northern part of the island that could be used for the installation of about three wind turbines, said the Labour leader, adding that another choice would be the possibility of wind farms at sea.
In May 2006, Dr Gonzi had also announced that there would be an international call for the development of wind farms at sea as an alternative source of energy, said Dr Sant.
He said that after 20 years of Nationalist leadership, none of the promises were implemented and Malta placed last in an EU report regarding the use of alternative sources of energy.
Dr Sant said a new Labour government would work on a focused programme as regards alternative sources of energy and this would be put under the direct responsibility of the prime minister.
He said the MLP plans to modernise the way Enemalta operates, invest and modernise the generation and distribution of electricity, support families and business owners in the use of alternative sources of energy, invest to develop and encourage the use of such sources, and ensure an adequate provision of energy that matches the party’s planned economic growth for the country.
Dr Sant put an emphasis on the need to study the viability of alternative sources of energy and technologies by means of which they could be developed in a way that would be environment friendly and economically beneficial to families and the country as a whole.