Conservationists are objecting to a proposed solar farm in Mġarr, saying it raises serious concerns among farmers and resdients. 

In a statement on Monday, NGO Moviment Graffitti said it is formally objecting to a proposal to develop a solar farm on a patch of arable land equivalent to around six football pitches. 

The group said the area is home to unique features of the Maltese rural landscape: rubble walls, carob trees, garigue, protected flora and fauna, bee colonies and archaeological remains dating back to the Romans. 

The project, they said, would be directly detrimental to the area. 

The site also falls within a designated area of archaeological importance in Mġarr, with archaeological features immediately outside the site, but within the so-called buffer zone.

Built-up Mgarr area next to proposed project. Photo: Geo server

The proposed development seeks to construct greenhouses and solar panels resting on top.  

Farmers from the area, the NGO said, have said these conditions will likely result in no crops growing at all, and that this project is using agriculture as an excuse for further development.

“If such a project is indeed intended to reduce Malta's carbon emissions, developing ODZ areas runs counter to that very idea,” the group said in a statement. 

“There is the clear possibility that this solar farm application is being used as a loophole for more development, since it is difficult to get permission to build on virgin land,” they added. 

Moviment Graffiti also said that an Agricultural Advisory Committee within the Ministry of Environment has also raised several concerns about the project. 

The solar panels, they said, should be placed on alternative sites such as industrial or government buildings, and “absolutely not take up more agricultural land”. 

 "If the real goal behind this project is to increase environmental sustainability, destroying the existing countryside to make way for this huge project is not the way to go. Farmers, activists and experts have sounded their warning about the detrimental results of this project. It is the Planning Authority’s duty to take heed.”