Fuel prices are reaching record highs on a daily basis; moreover fossil fuel availability is decreasing and it may run out sooner rather than later. So what are we to do about it?

The harnessing and usage of alternative energy requires a strategy. One cannot discount that wind technology alone cannot cater for the islands’ requirements, what happens when there is no wind, or the wind current is not strong enough to turn the turbine? There is also the issue of wind fluctuations. Solar energy by itself has its own drawbacks, what happens on cloudy days, or at night?

The strategy should bring both wind and solar technologies together and link them to the generation of hydrogen. Hydrogen can be extracted from water, even sea water, and being an island we have a huge natural resource that we can exploit to its full potential. The country only has about 10 or 20 days without at least a breeze, and let’s face it, the island is also blessed with sunshine almost all year long.

What we can do is to build a wind farm, and cover all public buildings with solar panels connected to the national grid. This is where private companies and public individuals can help also; we need a large area to gather as much solar energy as possible. The extra energy generated – hopefully there will be – will go to extract hydrogen from water.

Hydrogen will in turn be used to power turbines when the demand is greater than the supply, i.e. during the night or in non-windy days, or even both. We can use hydrogen as a large energy capacitor for our power station, and it can also be used to power vehicles following a modification of the vehicle.

This strategy requires a sound investment but maybe the EU can help, by means of structural funds or allowing government to subsidise heavily so that everybody will give a helping hand. In the end all the country will benefit.

Robert Caruana

Zurrieq