Necessity is the mother of invention and in periods of economical stress and turmoil the human race excels in innovation and discovery. This has been demonstrated in the past few years and especially now, due to the soaring cost of oil which seems to be a commodity that the world’s nations cannot seem to consume enough of regardless of pollution, greenhouse gases, global warming and disease that is caused due to the inhalation of poisonous emissions from exhaust gases such as CO2, methane CH4, nitrous oxide N2O, carbon monoxide CO and the non-combustible black soot and grey or white lub-oil residue that is daily pumped into the atmosphere by thousands of vehicles on our roads, incinerator chimneys, power stations and industry. The price of oil has always followed an upward curve from 1946 when it was priced at $1.63 per barrel ($17.66 per barrel when adjusted for inflation up to 2007) up to a record $147 per barrel earlier on this year.

Between 1960 and 1980 some of the world’s developed nations experimented with nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuel as a source of energy and today only around 15 per cent of the world’s electricity is produced from this source. Due to several mishaps and environmentalist opposition to such plants as well as political disagreements on the pros and cons of nukes, lack of expertise required to run such plants and the safety factor associated with them, nuclear power stations did not really form part of the world’s popular, alternative power source. So we were all back to fossil fuels and subjected to the mercy of the oil producing countries, which are prone from time to time, to use their product as a powerful political bargaining tool as they deem fit at any particular time.

Eventually, scientists, engineers and technologists started to get their act together and various means of alternative power sources or as it is well termed now, sources of renewable energy which were staring us in the face since the creation of the earth started to come to light. This is a classic example of how we have missed the wood for the trees for many years, and as fossil fuels were cheaply available for many years, the development of technology in these sources of energy took a very long time to take off. We have improved a lot in the last few years but we are still far from getting the results needed to replace oil as a power source for good.

With the financial markets crumbling around us, today’s global financial crisis has the makings of a perfect storm: historically high borrowing costs, stubborn inflation, reduced consumer demand, fluctuating currencies, and a very nasty recession in the offing, the renewable clean energy sector is one that is bucking the investment trend because there is huge demand for new solutions and new technologies in that area.

Investment in renewable energy worldwide has been growing very strongly and totalled something around USD150 billion in 2007, up no less than 60 per cent on 2006 and nearly five times the level of 2004. The biggest single category of that investment is going into projects such as – wind farms, solar parks which include photovoltaic power plants, biofuel plants, biomass generators, waste to energy and where it is geographically available, mini-hydro schemes, large hydro dams facilities, wave/current and tidal power, geothermal power which include geysers or volcanic dry hot rock and underground streams to generate steam, and possibly more. To give even a brief description of each of the above will take a lot of valuable print space so for now it is just enough to mention a few of the available technologies that are being experimented upon and developed to be eventually realised into commercially viable utility projects.

Despite what most of us have been saying that Malta is without natural resources, we have the two most popular and most freely accessible sources of renewable energy available anywhere. We have an abundance of wind and sun. Wind power is by far the biggest sector in this source, attracting some $40 billion in investment worldwide followed by around $20 billion by solar power. Malta’s proposed investment of e130 million in a wind farm to be constructed at Is-Sikka l-Bajda is a step forward but is only a token investment in comparison to the world average and when we can harness this power more aggressively. The power of the sun or as it is termed solar power can be harnessed through solar parks adopting either PV, photovoltaic technology, or CST, concentrated solar thermal technology which is currently seen as a cheaper generation technology than PV.

The three largest generators of electricity by wind power in the world are Germany (22.3Gwatts), followed by the USA (17 Gwatts), and Spain (15.5Gwatts) in third place. Germany is believed to have the most technological know-how in this area and large offshore wind turbines which can produce 5 MW per turbine and even larger units have already been developed, so expertise in this area in the EU is not lacking. However, the economics of wind power produce issues which deserve consideration, such as the effect of the turbines on the landscape, the effect on the bird population and migration, as well as the tourist industry. Huge solar parks of efficient and economic, utility-scale size can also take huge areas of land and nobody wants these things in their backyard. Of course as an island we are blessed with a large tract of offshore area all around us which may lend itself for the construction of offshore wind farms, but the technology here is expensive, unless suitable shallow areas are identified, otherwise the investment required may take a very long time to be recouped.

So where do we go from here? The 100MW extension to the Delimara power station shall improve the energy situation in Malta only if the most efficient power plants and electronic control equipment are purchased, installed and operated competently, extracting every digit of power from every barrel of oil consumed. The cable link to the Euro grid through Sicily is a superb idea which would eliminate the problem of further pollution emanating from the Island and to provide a supply of electricity without the need to sacrifice more space to build power stations.

Eventually the obsolete, fuel guzzling, Marsa power station is to be phased out, thus providing further fuel cost savings due to the abysmal operating efficiency of this facility. Hotels and industrial concerns are to be obliged to fit roof installations of either CST or PV panels to supplement their electricity demands. The electronics industry has made state of the art and consistent contributions to reducing the all-important dollar-per-watt metric applied to photovoltaics making these installations very efficient contributors to in-house power systems.

This system could also be applied to the large roof area that shall become available at SmartCity, which could be planned around such an installation overseen by Enemalta. Any planned major building development and towers that are being planned are to install photovoltaic or CST panel systems, which are to be included in the initial design before any plans are submitted to Mepa for approval.

No permit should be issued by Mepa unless such systems are included in the plans. Any excess power generated to be fed back into the national grid and owners reimbursed for it. In this regard both the Federation of Industries and the MHRA must find the will, the innovation and the initiative to make themselves energy independent through new technologies and refrain from depending on government handouts from public funds in as far as water and electrical consumption costs are concerned. The recent news that a local company has installed a photovoltaic system which is expected to generate about 40,000 units of electricity per year, reducing carbon emissions by 35 tonnes per year, and on top of which the project was financed through EU funds should be an eye opener to industrialists in Malta to follow suit.

The proposed landfill gas, LFG, extraction from the Maghtab and the long closed dumps in Marsascala, Qortin and Luqa can also be converted to “waste to energy” gas facilities, as well as locally produced biofuel such as biodiesel which can run generators within industrial concerns. All this requires a lot of upfront work with all stakeholders, where everyone can voice their constructive opinions early on in all inclusive process and making sure that finance for such projects are available from investment sources. Government handouts or subsidies should be ruled out from the start.

The EU can take matters a step forward by introducing and investing in a large geothermal/volcanic hot rock power station in Italy or Sicily. This region is the only country in the European Union that is recognised as one of the few countries in the world that can offer the development of a large enough geothermal/volcanic hot rock project which could be integrated within the Euro Power grid due to its volcanic geography, and through which we can also benefit. This is a source of renewable energy readily available to us from the core of the earth itself. To an extent, albeit small and localised, this technology is already being used in Europe by Germany, Denmark, Iceland and Portugal as well as in other areas so the expertise is there. What is required is foresight, vision, innovation and courage and the finance to harness the power that is around us.

We cannot go on missing the wood for the trees or to take the easy way out to our detriment, as we have been doing since oil was discovered, not only due to the pollution and global warming that has since occurred but also to any financial turmoil caused by undue price hikes of this commodity which can cause so much hardship to so many people around the world due to financial ruin. The world is our oyster, it is for us to make it better not only for us but for generations still to come.

Mr Spiteri is a Marine and Industrial Consultant