The attention constantly given to Malta’s main source of energy, electricity, and the need for constant development and expansion, have urged Lorenzo A. Zahra to look into the history of electricity-generation in Malta.
The first part of the story, from the beginning up to1964, is carried in an article in Treasures of Malta, No. 46, Vol. XVI No. 1, pages 71-78, published by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti. Here, the author continues the narrative from post-Independence to date. Apart from his first-hand experience, having worked with the Malta Power Station as
store-officer for 30 years, his main sources are contemporary newspaper reports
Lorenzo A. Zahra
After Independence in 1964, the government’s aim was to convert Malta from a military and naval base into a manufacturing and tourist centre. (In fact, special equipment was acquired specifically to power the illuminations in Independence Square, Floriana during the Independence celebrations.) As economic development and diversification proceeded, the need was again felt for a modern electricity plant to meet the increased demand from the business sector, notably with the opening of industrial estates, new building zones and hotels, the commercialisation of the former naval dockyards, and to support the underlying infrastructure.
The demand for electricity was also being pushed by social change and the higher standard of living that accompanied the economic progress. The 1960s ushered in a consumer boom, with greater spending on white goods and electrical home appliances, encouraged by the annual Trade Fair. There was also the opening of a local television station (the country had been enjoying television reception from Italy since the mid-1950s). To cope with this increased demand, two further 10,000 KW steam turbo alternators were added. As a first step, the government set up Malta Electricity by Act No.XXIV of 1963 to take charge of the new plans under the chairmanship of Chev. C.J. Mallia, with W.M. Cotsworth as general manager, A.A. Falzon as engineering manager and L.C. Ciantar as chief engineer. An early decision of the Board was to acquire from the British Military Authorities the area at Ta’ Cejlu Wharf called SPDC (Spare Parts Distribution Centre).
Financial assistance was sought from the World Bank and the Italian government. A loan from the World Bank, run by the International Monetary Fund, amounted to £2.3 million bearing interest at 5.5 per cent.
The Italian soft loan contracted in 1968 amounted to £2 million and was intended to finance the second phase of the B power station.
The construction of the new plant, now referred to as B Station, started. However, demand for electricity, especially during the winter, was rising so sharply that the government, as a quick-fix measure, and without waiting for the new power station to come on stream, ordered a new gas turbine, which was installed at A Station – the underground plant at Jesuits Hill, Marsa, which was opened in 1953. Traffic lights were introduced in 1966 as a result of the number of motor vehicles on the roads.
Prime Minister Dr George Borg Olivier opened B station on 18 March 1966.
The innovative aspect of the new station was that it incorporated a seawater desalination plant using a distillation process as water consumption was also mounting and natural water was becoming scarce. Initially, B Station consisted of two 12.5 MW Franco Tosi turbines, two boilers and a distiller, capable of processing one million gallons of water daily. Up to 1967, Malta’s only source of water was underground galleries. The contract for the fuel supply was signed with AGIP, which transported the cargo in tankers from Italy and discharged it directly into two large purpose-built tanks on top of nearby Jesuits Hill.
Some of the tankers involved in the early years were MV Ombrina, MV Rina Lolighetti and MV Paraggi. On one ill-fated occasion in January 1966, a valve in the vicinity of the oil tanks cracked and oil flowed out on the ground and making a mess at the power station. In a similar episode in May 1972, the heated underwater pipeline connecting the discharging point at the New Quay to the oil tanks somehow cracked and fuel leaked slightly into the sea at Bridgewharf.
Fuel has always been crucial to assure a constant electricity supply on which the economy so depended. This was highlighted in the 1968 strike by pilots, tugboat crews and port workers, which blockaded the harbour. As a result, the AGIP tanker could not unload its oil at a time when the power station oil stock was critically low and was threatening a national blackout.
The new power station called for the laying of a more potent cable to strengthen distribution from Marsa to three strategic centres in Malta. In 1969, the 33 KV cable was extended to Tarxien, Mosta and Mriehel, which served as arteries for other sub-stations. It also considered taking the cable to Gozo. Gozo was only supplied with a submarine 33 KV cable in 1981 and with a second one in 1987, thereby putting an end to long years of unstable and low-voltage electricity and consequent erratic water supply. Another powerful submarine cable was laid in the Gozo channel in 2001. It should be noted that a major attempt to provide Gozo with an independent source of water production had been made in 1969, when the Water Works Department opened a small distillation plant, capable of producing half-a-million gallons of water daily, at Hondoq ir-Rummien. The project was aborted a few years later due to the high cost of fuel to run it and the place was abandoned.
The second phase of B Station, which added to the overall generating capacity, was completed in March 1971 and opened in June that year. It comprised two other 30 MW Franco Tosi Turbines, two boilers and three Weir Westgart distillers.
Then came the shock of the 1973 oil crisis. The cost of fuel more than trebled and the price of local energy products followed suit. The government announced economy measures, including the discontinuance of the distillation plant. Reverse osmosis was eventually adopted for the production of potable water from the sea to supplement the island’s supply of ground water. The first reverse osmosis plant was opened in 1982 at Ghar Lapsi and a second one at Tigné in 1986.
The importation of petroleum products was nationalised, with a Fuel Oil Board with executive powers appointed within the Office of the Prime Minister on 1 February 1974. Up to 1977, petroleum products were imported by three private enterprises, Shell Malta Co. Ltd, British Petroleum and Esso Co. Ltd, with settlement effected by means of counter-trade. Counter-trade is a system of settling debts by bartering of goods and services and was adopted as part of the government’s bulk buying scheme in 1980. Thus, oil purchase from Libya was exchanged for exported goods. The counter-trade accounting was handled by the Central Bank of Malta.
In 1977, the government set up Enemalta Corporation to be in control of all aspects of energy supply in Malta, with E.C.Tabone as the first chairman. It had three divisions: electricity, gas and petroleum. L. Ciantar was head of the Electricity Division.
Another storm in the international oil market occurred in 1980, causing the government to a major rethink of the energy policy: a shift back to the use of coal was on the cards. Work was carried out to adapt a portion of the electricity generation to coal.
Three used turbines, acquired from Palermo between 1982 and 1985, were also converted to coal use.
The dismantling of the machines in Palermo and their re-erection in Marsa was undertaken entirely by Enemalta employees. A fourth coal-based turbine was purchased second-hand from the UK. A coal yard was constructed at Il-Menqa, Marsa, but any economic benefits from the use of coal, which was mainly purchased from Poland and was also paid for by counter-trade, were obliterated by its grave polluting consequence. Marsa Local Council was not happy with the damage that coal, and the accompanying dust and ash, was causing to the environment and resolutely appealed to the government to clear the coal heap at Il-Menqa and to rehabilitate the area. The last cargo of coal arrived in Malta on 12 January 1995 on MV Antares.
In 1987, Enemalta took another landmark decision: coal-use was to be phased out again in the existing A and B Stations, while a new, technologically advanced, power station was to be built at Delimara.
However, until the new power station could start operations, further expansion in capacity had to be catered for and this was done through the acquisition of two gas turbines with a capacity of 97 MW. Strident controversy again accompanied the decision to build a new power station, but Malta’s energy investment had seriously lagged behind and the need for such a project had become urgent. Phase 1 of the new Delimara Power Station was opened on 9 April 1994 by Prime Minister Edward Fenech Adami. Its modern sophisticated computer-controlled infrastructure comprised two 120 MW Bharat Heavy Electronics Ltd turbines and two boilers. Ballut Blocks and AX Holdings were among the local contractors involved in the construction work, which included the erection of oil storage tanks. Concurrent with the opening of the Delimara plant, the underground A power station at Marsa was closed.
Phase 2-A consisted of the installation of two 74 MW John Brown open cycle gas turbines and was commissioned on 29 September 1995. It draws fuel from its own fuel storage tanks nearby. Instead of laying a new distribution system, the Delimara power station was connected, by means of a powerful mainline cable though an underground tunnel, to the Marsa power station, thereby feeding into the existing distribution. The 132 KV cable supplied by Kaiser of Berlin is laid in a tunnel eight kilometres long by five metres wide. Another section of the tunnel brings the cable to Mosta.
To improve the conductivity of electricity distribution, the overhead aluminium lines and wires criss-crossing the islands had some time earlier been replaced with copper cables. Actually, copper cables had always been in use but, following a surge in copper prices in the commodity markets in the early 1980s, aluminium wires started being used as alternative.
In 1999, in keeping with its environmental credentials, Enemalta installed a generating plant using a low margin of sulphur gas oil to reduce acid emissions. This was Phase 2-B of the Delimara power station and involved the commissioning of three 110 MW Nuovo Pignone combined cycle gas turbines.
By 2008, Malta’s aggregate generating capacity had reached 571 MW, compared to a peak load of 424 MW registered in that year.
Matters came to a head in 2008 in the oil business, with an unprecedented surge in the international price of oil causing uncertainty in the local energy sector. These episodes have heightened the public’s awareness of the need for prudent use of energy and increased emphasis on the use of energy-saving devices.
The water and electricity billing process, which has become archaic and has been a headache for the governments of recent years, is to be modernised. The government has contracted IBM to replace all 250,000 analogue electricity meters with new electronic devices that use advanced IT applications and has announced its intention to embark on a national energy policy, including the linking of the Maltese Islands with the European Grid System. Leadership is being provided by the Malta Resources Authority, established by the government by Act XXV of 2000 as the sole regulator of practices and operations relating to energy, water and minerals. The policy will put great emphasis on renewable sources of energy in preference to fossil fuel. While we will definitely witness more technical advances and proliferation in the use of solar energy and wind power, Malta will undoubtedly continue to depend to a large extent on oil-based electricity generation for some more decades.
Enemalta has embarked on Phase 2-C of the Delimara power station extension, not without the concomitant controversies. The contract, awarded to Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor A/S, provides for the installation of a 100 MW combined cycle turbine, using diesel fuel or gas. It is scheduled for completion by 2011. Phase 3, to be taken in hand thereafter, is intended to lead to the total closure of Marsa power station.