Enemalta said that the €37 million emergency power plant was installed earlier this month and was said to be ready for use should one of the country's main sources of electricity generation fail during periods of peak demand.

Enemalta CEO Ryan Fava had told this newsroom earlier this summer that this emergency power station "is not a plan for August, but it should be there to serve us if needed, until the second interconnector is finalised." The second interconnector should be completed between the end of 2026 and the beginning of 2027.

If one of the main sources of energy generation fails, then having a backup is always good. Not having enough energy generation to meet the country's needs would, after all, be catastrophic.

But on the other side of things, isn't the need for such an expensive temporary plant an example of lack of foresight? Fava had argued it is not. He had said that this plant, having a vision towards transitioning into the addition of the second interconnector, shows that "we have adequate planning" since this emergency power plant should offer peace of mind that Enemalta can guarantee energy supply, even if a major fault had to hit any of the country's major energy generation sources. The chairman told this newsroom that Enemalta could be criticised for lacking forward planning through this project's financing if it was not already working on plans for the incoming interconnector.

But at the same time one could point out that the need for such a temporary plant is, itself, evidence that there was not enough long-term planning from early enough on, as otherwise money would not have to be spent on something temporary.

On another issue, the power outages the country faced this summer and last year were said to be due to electricity distribution network issues and not energy generation. But even when it comes to energy distribution network failures, Fava had told this newsroom that he does not believe that deficiencies in the electrical grid are due to planning failures. However, the National Audit Office (NAO) concluded that Enemalta's shortcomings in both planning and investment, "to varying degrees," played a role to the prolonged power outages experienced in the summer of 2023.

A lack of forward planning can be seen practically everywhere in the country, starting with the very basis for the country's economy over recent years - where the government grew an economy that was based on quantity of workers without having the adequate infrastructure in place to handle such a rapid population growth - traffic, energy distribution infrastructure that struggled in peak heat months, chaotic construction with poor planning policies to mention a few issues the country faced. Now the government is having to be more reactionary in order to try and solve some of the issues, rather than having prevented them through proper planning ahead.

But where should the government aim to go next in terms of Malta's energy needs? Government has plans for the country to move more towards electric vehicles, which would of course mean more energy being required. That needs to be taken into consideration when looking to the future.

Malta is lucky enough to have sunshine nearly all year round. It should definitely look towards increasing the amount of energy generated through renewble energy sources.  A strong push for the installation and use of more solar panels should be made. It has also been looking at the possibility of floating offshore renewables, an idea that should continue to be explored. After all, the more self-sufficient the country's energy generation is, the better.