Had we managed to act on renewables as much as we have been talking about alternative energy then we surely must have long been on target for ages.
Alas, the truth is somewhat different. Not only do we still do not have a national energy policy in place – since this is not expected to materialise or else be formalised before the autumn, but from what I have been told in Parliament last week it seems that we are still at the stage where the EU Commission is seeking clarifications from our end on the renewable energy action plan that we submitted last summer.
Although technically speaking such action plans do not need the EU’s formal approval, the EU has every right to seek clarifications.
In fact I find it somewhat worrying that this has indeed been the case with Malta.
According to a reply that I was given in Parliament on 27 June, way back in early February – 9 February 2011 to be precise – the Director General of the Energy Directorate of the EU Commission seems to have written to the Maltese authorities (as part of an evaluation process) to seek some clarifications on the plan submitted.
From the minister’s reply we came to learn that Malta took some three whole months to submit its reply. In fact Malta submitted the clarifications necessary about the plan details on 24 May.
The minister tried to reassure us by claiming that these clarifications did not necessitate any changes to the targets of the plan.
When I raised a rather innocuous supplementary question to establish in which particular areas were such clarifications sought (solar, wind, biogas, biomass etc.) the Minister – who had been merely asked to identify the areas by name rather than going into the nitty-gritty of it all – simply asked me to follow up my query with a fresh formal written parliamentary question.
One would have expected that such clarifications should have been spelt out in the first place, particularly since my original question PQ 26335 submitted one month earlier on 24 May had sought information regarding the feedback that government might have had from the EU Commission during such an evaluation process.
That the whole action plan is still being evaluated one year after it should have already been well under way says much about the state of play in this particular sector.
In terms of draft renewable energy policies for Malta these have been on the drawing board for ages. In fact the first such policy document that came my way dates back to August 2006 – five whole years ago!
In it we were told that the government has developed its energy policy for the Maltese islands, only to be recently told that such a policy has not even been finalised yet!
I have reason to believe that the EU is somewhat concerned that some of our projections are somewhat hazy, particularly when it comes to certain unquantified projects.
The fact that the EU’s analysis of our National Reform and Stability Programme was so critical of our performance and prospects in the renewables sector, merely confirms the obvious. That Brussels is not that convinced about our strong commitment and political will in this particularly sensitive area.
Were this not the case, they would have not shown such deep concern about the extreme vulnerability that we have exposed ourselves to as a result of our near total dependence on fossil fuel oils.
While our portion of alternative energy funding as a percentage of our total EU funding remains very low and inadequate, people close to the Commission have informed me that we can hardly expect to increase our allocation of EU funding once our operational programme runs till 2013.
While the EU energy policy has taken an interesting direction following the January 2009 gas crisis that exposed numerous chronic security of supply challenges that the EU is facing and as the EU’s stance in terms of energy poses an interesting way ahead, one has to admit that our long-term energy policy – if we can even claim to formally have one – is somewhat perplexing since it is only recently that we saw it seriously taking shape.
With Malta being such a laggard in renewables, I have my serious doubts how much we can really influence the EU energy policy process in our favour.
The recent comment by the Finance Minister that electricity tariffs are set to rise unless global oil prices fall, encapsulates our pitiful energy scenario.
It takes a simple exercise to realise that the main reason behind our high and volatile electricity tariffs is due to a lack of an energy policy in the last year.
This lack of vision in the energy sector throughout the years has made Malta the only EU member state that is 100% reliant on oil to generate power – somewhat inefficiently – with no immediate option to diversify sources and supply i.e. having electricity prices at the mercy of world events.
The way that Minister Fenech spoke about renewables in Parliament showed a lack of political commitment to alternative energy.
He made these points by putting them over as areas of concern:
• That our quest for alternative energy was merely to go for cleaner options rather than to reduce or eliminate our dependence on oil;
• That feed in tariffs come at a price for which Enemalta i.e. read the taxpayer will have to make good;
• That cleaner energy meant stiffer bills.
Despite this worrying scenario we still lack a serious energy efficiency policy. The claim that the old one is being updated is of little consolation.
On the other hand energy efficiency in terms of buildings has shown that even in this sector we have been performing as laggards too.
This is in stark comparison to the rest of the EU and the direction that the EU Commission is taking.
Save for the interconnector, I can hardly see any serious and concrete plans aimed at ending our energy isolation and reliance on oil. Unfortunately, despite the bleak picture I have referred to.
In the coming weeks I hope to be able to write about assessments made of our own national renewable energy action plan.
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www.leobrincat.com
Leo Brincat is the Shadow Minister for the Environment, Sustainable Development & Climate Change