Harnessing the wind: clean energy and strategic autonomy

In October last year, Environment and Energy Minister Miriam Dalli was quoted saying that the government was working on a framework for floating offshore wind farms.

Since then nothing has been published and one would presume that the studies are still going on.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana last week announced that the government had received 15 proposals from the private sector to develop offshore wind farms within Malta’s continental shelf.

The proposals were responding to an expression of interest issued by the government for the development of Malta’s vast continental shelf.

Caruana did not elaborate but said the proposals were from large international companies and the projects were concentrated in an area off the northern coast of Gozo.

He went on to say that the country could no longer depend only on gas for its electricity needs.

The minister said that during the summer months, government will complete the expression of interest process so that the plans could be published in time for the budget.

At the same time, the Energy Minister recently went was on record calling for increased investment in renewable energy sources, adding that €24 billion in deposits were sitting idly in banks.

Dalli called on prospective investors to redirect these funds into greener business ventures.

This leader augurs that all this talk about wind power will eventually lead to concrete investment. Wind farms have gone on and off the agenda multiple times over the past two decades.

Admittedly, today’s technology makes floating offshore wind farms a more feasible option although cost remains a critical factor, especially in deep waters like those around Malta and Gozo.

If the government means business about investing in large-scale floating offshore wind farms it has to get its act together and ensure that the different ministries sing from the same hymn book.

It was strategically a wise move to invest in a new gas-fired power station in 2014 because it ensured Malta retained a domestic source of energy that used cleaner fuel. The power station balanced the risk of depending solely on an undersea interconnector.

Nonetheless, gas is a commodity that Malta has to import, leaving the country dependent on market forces for electricity generation.

Wind energy does not depend on the whims of other countries or market forces. It is freely available although it comes with the risk of intermittence that will still require the country to have other power generation sources.

But there is no doubt that Malta sorely needs to make some big investments in large-scale wind energy projects.

Government can tap a myriad of investment options, including EU funds and specific green bonds to entice the cash sitting idly in banks to be used for the country’s benefit.

The EU’s Green Deal and the war in Ukraine have underscored the importance of more investment in renewable energy.

Making the green transition is a must although wind and solar on their own can never be the panacea some make them out to be. The world will still need a mix of energy sources and Malta is no exception.

Strategically Malta needs to have a gas-fired power station that could eventually be transformed to work on clean hydrogen. It also needs a second interconnector cable to Sicily as an additional backup. It should also explore the possibility of floating nuclear reactors, possibly in partnership with neighbouring Italy.

But the energy mix must also include large-scale offshore wind farms that will give the country a measure of self-reliance in electricity generation.

Malta cannot keep postponing such an investment. We owe it to the young generation and those that are still to come to ensure the country has a clean source of energy that also gives the islands some strategic autonomy.