Environment Minister, Miriam Dalli, set an ambitious target for Malta earlier this week, for the country to increase its renewable energy generation share from 10% to 25% by 2030, and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

This will not be a small or an easy feat, keeping in mind that this first target is just six years away. The main thrust behind this plan will be the use of offshore renewable energy.

This, on paper, is a sound plan. Malta has limited space on land, although it must be pointed out that we could be doing better when it comes to the use of solar power. But we are limited to just that. Using offshore renewable technology would allow us to use wind farms, which if placed on land would just be an eyesore.

The policy states that it is expected that major developments will "initially" take place in offshore wind technology, but also marked offshore solar technology as an "area of interest for

Malta".

One must stress that the placement of this tech infrastructure should, ideally, be far enough away not to be too noticeable from land. After all, one of the best things about Malta are its sea views.

The Environment Ministry said in a statement that offshore solar technology offers the advantage of being implemented closer to the coast, thus reducing visual impact, but also said that the deployment of such technology so far is still limited because of the characteristics of marine and sea environments. Hopefully as technology advances, this will become less of a problem.

At the end of the day, renewable energy generation makes sense for the country, and this not just from an environmental standpoint. It is the way forward. The more self-reliant Malta is in terms of energy production and generation, the less we would need to rely on the importation of energy, or the importation of gas to produce energy.

The 25% target should just be the first target. Hopefully the percentage of renewable energy generation will rise further after the 2030 mark.

The Government is aiming for a decentralised model for the offshore energy infrastructure. The policy reads that Malta will be adopting features of the decentralised model, "where the Government will be responsible for identifying the zones and areas for development, launch the competitive bidding process which will lead to a selection of a successful bidder/s whose choice will be based on a set of criteria."

This needs to be carried out with all due diligence, without any questionable or suspicious situations arising. The country cannot afford another costly Vitals Global Healthcare scenario. Everything must be done with complete transparency, and the winning bidders must be highly reputable, with experience in the field.