Joseph Muscat has left very little to the imagination in recent months when claiming that energy will be one of the uppermost priorities of a new would be PL government.
This is understandably so. It will be discussed at some length come Thursday, during a special session at the Ta’ Qali Congress, since the sector’s unsustainable tariffs have been negatively impacting consumers, industry, tourism, retailers and every family’s quality of life. Compounded by our competitive edge, or rather, the lack of it, the issue is now on centre stage.
The eminent non-political panellists participating in the recent PL Congress Business Seminar hardly left any doubt about that as well, as about the unsustainable manner in which utility rates have been impacting directly on their respective business sectors.
What many find baffling indeed is that while on the one hand, we have one of the highest tariff rates in the EU and have also registered one of the sharpest percentage increases during recent years, there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel at Enemalta’s end – possibly as a result of the lack of transparency, wrong priorities and mismanagement that have been repeatedly highlighted in various credit rating agency reports about the Corporation.
While the PL has made it clear that its manifesto will not carry any wish lists, it has long gone public in committing itself to reducing utility rates in a sustainable, manageable and realistic manner.
From what I have been told by Chamber of Commerce members present for his recent Q&A session with them, Joseph Muscat’s views came across as very down to earth and doable.
Those who are expecting us to spell out the micro details of our proposal must surely have ulterior reasons, since no sensible political party would spell out its strategy at this point in time, when it is not yet clear whether the elections might be six weeks or six months away.
The PN will surely testify to this, particularly since they are not only still to come up with their own solutions for their own self-created problems – including those in the very same energy sector – but also due to the fact that during the last election campaign they had left their manifesto promises – quite rightly so – for the run up days of the campaign proper.
When Joseph Muscat places so much emphasis on the energy sector, he not only has the utility rates in mind but also the overall challenges facing the entire sector in a holistic manner.
Particularly since:
In spite of fast approaching elections, the country is still without a formal national energy plan;
We still have no idea whether we are in a position to meet or miss our 2020 renewable energy targets;
The closure date of the Marsa Power Station remains one big mystery to one and all;
The likely prospects of the Sikka l-Bajda wind project continue to remain elusive at best, even though I have reason to believe that an EIA was recently concluded. The fact that government seems to be keeping its contents close to its chest without posting it on its web sites seems to be sufficiently indicative.
Given that the EU is also mulling over the prospect of raising renewable targets beyond 2020, we still have to assess whether we will be in a position to meet any upwardly revised targets and objectives within eight years time or so.
I can still vividly recall how after the Resources Minister and the PM had said in 2009 that if the wind farm on Sikka l-Bajda failed, Malta would have to renegotiate its 2020 targets due to the size and specific circumstances of Malta, including deep water depths, a Commission spokesman had been reported by another English newspaper to have quashed this option and told the said newspaper that Malta would not be given another opportunity to renegotiate its commitments.
Given this over-reliance on wind, it would be of interest to find what our energy mix vis-à-vis the EU may happen to be.
Are we over dependent on wind? Are we underplaying our potential of maximising on solar energy?
What is the net contribution to our alternative energy mix expected to be once the mega PV tender(s) regarding Government property roof tops and buildings will have been implemented rather belatedly?
It is also in the public interest to find out whether regardless of which company or consortium won the said tender, account has been taken of the sharp drop in PV systems in international markets when the final selection was made or else whether government issued its letter of intent on the basis of inflated prices of historical value that in no way represent the current market prices of PVs, particularly since China virtually took over the solar industry and brought along a drastic collapse in international prices.
Although there are a hundred and one roundabout ways in which Malta can try to squeeze itself out of such a fix, what worries me most is not that Malta will have to find a way to honour its obligations with the European Commission or else face legal action, but even worse – that come 2020 we might find ourselves in a situation where short of incineration, we will find ourselves back against the wall. By the way, De Marco’s National environment policy does not mention incineration once as an option either in the near, medium or long term.
All this leaves us considerably far off from the modest 10% target that the EU had imposed upon us, given our customary role as laggards in the sector.
After having spent millions of Euros to set up a Delimara power station extension run on heavy fuel oil, only weeks ago calls were made for studies to be carried out on the feasibility of the conversion of the plant to gas.
As I had pointed out in a media release some months back, regardless of when general elections are held, there will be no Sikka l-Bajda project and no interconnector in place, at least on an operational basis.
I am emphasising this because of a rather worrying point that came to light last week.
When I quizzed the seasoned diplomat Giulio Terzi, the affable and experienced Italian Foreign Minister about the Malta-Sicily electric grid, in spite of Tonio Fenech’s commitment in parliament that permitting will be in place by the end of this month, the Minister replied that this permitting process might now drag on till the end of the year, while also hinting that there could still be some problems pending with ‘the local government’ – for which many read the Ragusa local government, rather than our own national government!
How all this will impact on the relevant time lines, still has to be seen.
What is evident is that we seem to be light years away from the boastful target dates that Minister Gatt had boasted of some time back.
But then, what does one expect from someone who had promised thousands of jobs at Smart City by now, as well as a smooth public transport reform that landed us with the botched ARRIVA deal that has still not taken off, in spite of the lapse of time?
Meanwhile I fully agree with what Muscat told another newspaper last Sunday, that as far as the manifesto proper is concerned, at the last election, Gonzi himself only published the electoral manifesto once the campaign got under way.
That is exactly what we will be doing too.
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www.leobrincat.com
Leo Brincat is the Shadow Minister for the Environment, Sustainable Development & Climate Change