Nine years on and the power is still off

On September 7, 2014, the Sunday Times of Malta published my letter entitled ‘National power failure’ which I wrote after the country was plunged into uncertainty – and then, darkness – for several hours on or around the evening of August 13, 2014.

Nine years on and Energy Minister Miriam Dalli is admitting that the situation is unacceptable: electrical demand is still exceeding the grid’s capability at peak times and we are still suffering power failures as a consequence.

Enemalta personnel are working round the clock to repair the damage.  Photo: Facebook/Enemalta

Having worked for a total of 55 years on various electricity networks in the UK, I am intimately familiar with the workings of a grid system of electrical supply. For one thing, it has a planning horizon of five to 10 years.

My first letter was written nearly nine years ago and Enemalta, whatever the minister says, is still attempting to address major challenges with short-term fixes.

National electrical supply planning in the 21st century must account for increases in demand from air-conditioning, battery-operated vehicles, and the ever-increasing use of energy-hungry appliances and gadgets required to maintain and improve modern lifestyles.

Solar panels and wind turbines can provide large amounts of supplementary, green energy, but when the sun goes in or sinks and the air is still, the network must be able to cope with demand diverted to the power station or interconnector.

I know that the installation of battery substations is being considered, which will help a lot – but only if/when it actually happens. Battery packs for solar panels is another obvious move, with the batteries charged by green energy that is not weather-dependent and that can automatically connect to the system at peak times.

Short term, there are many ways in which the intelligent application of load shedding, demand-response programming and time-variable pricing can provide significant relief to our overloaded grid, for example the use of smart meters to modulate the charging usage of electric vehicles and non-essential domestic appliances and industrial equipment.

However, such short-term relief and ministerial hand-wringing mustn’t be mistaken for long-term solution – or I’ll be stating the obvious again in my third letter to the Sunday Times of Malta some time in 2032!

Brian Coen, retired electrical engineer – Victoria

Collapsing infrastructure

Unfortunately, our beloved island is becoming a shambles, its infrastructure bursting at the seams in every way possible. An obscene maze of building blocks, cause of countless deaths and injuries, and cranes continue to ravage the island as village cores become tiny symbolic kernels, and open spaces are obliterated or stolen from us.

In their lust for money, ruthless developers, backed by many corrupt politicians, do whatever they like.

Establishments are free to take over every metre they wish, pavement, road or iconic steps, as we struggle to move about.

Some localities have become rubbish dumps, centres of neglect and shabbiness.

Traffic super-congestion is an understatement. Test your lungs, blood pressure or patience, on our roads.

White-collar criminals and crooked politicians, among others, walk free, as police authorities look on.

A blind, immoral economy sees people as numbers, euro signs. Exploitation of cheap labour, sucking the lifeblood out of the countless poor from every nationality, has become the way to do business.

Mater Dei Hospital is grossly overwhelmed; the country’s electricity system cannot handle the heavy load.

The whole infrastructural edifice is about to collapse. We need to change direction urgently!

Where is the government? Will it continue to play the tune of a thriving economy, while actually Rome burns?

Carmel Zammit – Naxxar