Malta Intelligent Energy Management Agency (MIEMA) is launching a public consultation exercise regarding the impact of renewable energy sources, particularly photovoltaic systems (PVs), on the Maltese landscape. The exercise is being held within the agency, under the Enerscapes project co-funded by the European Commission through the MED programme.

The agency says that the Maltese landscape is very sensitive, due to the country’s size, its high population- density resulting in many built-up areas, and the large number of environmentally-protected sites. On the other hand, Malta is bound to consider renewable energy sources (RES) as the most sustainable way to generate energy.

Whichever RES option Malta opts for will have its own environmental impact, and there ought to be efforts to minimise such an impact while at the same time securing a sustainable energy source.

With this in mind, MIEMA will be holding a seminar at the Corinthia Palace Hotel in Attard this Friday from 9am, aimed at presenting and getting feedback on a number of different scenarios related to the installation of PV systems in the Maltese context. A public participation scenario assessment document has been prepared and is available at www.miema.org.

The seminar, one of MIEMA’s activities within the EU Sustainable Energy Week 2012, will be the beginning of a public consultation process. Further feedback from the public will be sought through semi-open questionnaires to be made available during the seminar, as well as afterwards through the MIEMA website and at various local council premises.

Further information on the programme of the seminar and how to register is available at www.miema.org.