Delimara 1 to be decommissioned on Friday

Delimara 1 will no longer be on standby as of Friday, and will be decommissioned prior to being dismantled, Enemalta chairman Frederick Azzopardi told The Malta Independent yesterday while Energy Minister Joe Mizzi visited the corporation’s offices in Marsa.

This, both he and the minister said, meant that Malta will no longer have the possibility of using oil for energy generation.

Minister Joe Mizzi, addressing Enemalta employees, said that Malta does have an energy distribution problem, but stressed that work had been done to improve the situation, and that more work would occur including the installation of new substations and the expansion of the current distribution centres.

The minister said that the time taken to service issues in the grid had decreased by 60% since 2013.

Last April, the chimney of the power station was switched off and that was the last day Malta used Heavy Fuel Oil for electricity. It has since remained on cold standby.

The end of oil use as been touted by the Labour government as an improvement to air quality and the health of residents living in surrounding areas.

The minister also spoke about smart metres, and said that there are a number of people who still have the old metres.

He said that there are technical problems, including communication and substation improvement requirements. These are being handled by engineers. He said that while this is ongoing, the government was ensuring that those who did not change their metres, would face a deterrent for doing so.