Energy minister plans to increase the share of renewables in the energy mix

At a business breakfast organised by the EU Commission Representation in Malta it was confirmed that the government's focus is on increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix

Energy Minister Miriam Dalli joined Prof. Luciano Mule Stagno from the Institute for Sustainable Energy and Malta Chamber of Geologists president Dr Peter Gatt to discuss the future of Malta's energy sector. Readers may ask that this topic of renewables has featured many times over the past years yet there is no tangible results from interested investors.

It is true that offshore wind and solar farms seem to be the most popularly touted solutions for Malta, but other countries have successfully implemented solutions involving hydrogen, geothermal and even nuclear, energy sources. So far with the occasional Gregale storm, Malta had to hanker the FSU to safety temporary shutting supply of LNG for security reasons.

This resulted in both the Electrogas and BWSC plant inactive for two days and Enemalta as a result placed reliance on the inter connector, which the government claimed it tripped, resulting in a temporary blackout. The inter connector is a subsea electricity cable connecting Malta to Sicily with a maximum load of 250MW. This was inaugurated in 2015.

All these facts post the question – does Malta enjoy security of energy supply? The answer is mixed, while the government is promising to instal a second inter connector in three years’ time. Eventually, permission is sought for EU funding of a subsea gas pipe line which is hydrogen ready.

As can be expected, due to climate change policies, the EU favours the use of clean fuel and wants us to plan how to cut down on the burning of fossil fuel. By sheer contrast, investment on renewables in Malta is modest with a mere 8% to 10% of electricity generated from clean energy such as PV panels but no turbines in use.

For an island, which is almost 100% reliant on transport powered by fossil fuel, this situation calls for a drive encompassing a scientific but speedy plan to de-carbonise. An ideal option is to use renewable energy to produce green hydrogen by attracting foreign investors to set up in the EEZ (particularly Hurd’s bank); installing sophisticated infrastructure. Renewable hydrogen is created by using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen through a process known as electrolysis. The hydrogen is collected and used, primarily in industry, while oxygen is released as the by-product or captured for use by others.

Advances in technology has made it possible to de-carbonise the entire transport fleet replacing internal combustion engines by a technology called a hydrogen fuel cell that uses hydrogen as its power source. Powering these vehicles with renewable hydrogen makes them truly zero-carbon.

There are many reasons that speak for hydrogen: such as meeting climate targets for 2030 and greenhouse gas neutrality targets for 2050. The front-runner in eHydrogen is Germany, where we note its national strategy of 2020, highlighted the potential and the opportunities of green hydrogen. The core mission is to replace fossil fuels particularly gaseous and liquid energy sources, which are an integral part of Germany’s energy supply.

The Federal Government has been aware of the potential of hydrogen technology for many years and has made available considerable funding and subsidies. Under the National Innovation Programme on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology, a total of €1.4bn in funding is currently being provided and €310m will be provided under the Energy and Climate Fund for practice-oriented basic research on green hydrogen.

Germany adopted a package for the future which makes available another €7bn for speeding up the market rollout of hydrogen technology and another €2bn for fostering international partnerships. In the east of Germany, the hybrid power plant in Prenzlau produces hydrogen with surplus wind and solar kilowatthours and uses it as storage. In Brandenburg, the coal-dominated energy region of Lausitz is to become a hydrogen region.

There are planss for a further 800 wind turbines to drive forward the production of green hydrogen. Hydrogen technology also seems very promising in terms of Co2-free inland mobility. Since 2015, the Berlin-based company H2Mobility has been building a Germany-wide filling station network for hydrogen of particular interest to bus operators and haulage companies. Most notably, more homes in Hamburg are making use of hydrogen-ready pipelines connected to the nationwide supply network.

In anticipation of an energy revolution in Malta, PKF is organising, in collaboration with a list of foreign and local experts, a day conference at the Hilton on 29 March. We feel that this event is the first of its kind for Malta – discussing the possibility of offshore renewable energy projects in our EEZ waters at national level and also promoting a business appetite for such projects at micro level.

“For an island, which is almost 100% reliant on transport powered by fossil fuel, this situation calls for a drive encompassing a scientific but speedy plan to de-carbonise.”