New plant planned for Delimara power station
Two of seven boilers in Marsa would be eliminated
Plans are in the pipeline to build a new combined cycle plant at the Delimara power station which would increase its base capacity by 50 per cent, Enemalta Corporation generation manager John Pace said.
Mr Pace said the plans, still at the concept stage, involved scrapping part of the Marsa power station by eliminating two of the seven boilers built in 1970 and building a new 110 MW plant at Delimara.
"We feel there is a need for this new plant in the light of the high demand for electricity and because part of the old plant in Marsa will not be compliant with the EU Directive of Integrated Pollution Preventive Control," Mr Pace said when contacted.
The directive states that both new and old plants must comply with certain standards by 2007.
The overall cost of this new project is estimated at around Lm40 million.
"We hope the new plant will be up and running within three years of the plans being given the green light. But everything is still at the concept stage," he said.
Mr Pace explained that existing EU regulations on plants built before 1987 specified that there should be a staged reduction of emissions according to a specific, but as yet unagreed, timetable.
Malta closed the EU environment chapter last week, but it was noted that by accession the Marsa power station must comply with the Large Combustion Plant Directive - which regulates the emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and dust - or else close down.
Enemalta chairman Robert Ghirlando said Enemalta was adopting a three-pronged approach to reduce pollution.
The first step had been to rehabilitate three precipitators to control the problem of dust particles, which had repeatedly raised the ire of residents living close to the plant.
Prof. Ghirlando said these precipitators were installed when the plant used to run on coal. They later fell into disuse before being rehabilitated.
Over the past year Enemalta also started burning better quality oil originating from the Italian company ENEL and refined in Sicily.
By next year, Malta must start importing low sulphur oil to comply with EU standards. This would mean forking out approximately Lm4 million more than today.
Mr Pace also pointed out that the problem of emissions from both power stations would be drastically reduced with the construction of a gas pipeline between Malta and Sicily.
The feasibility study for laying the pipeline is being carried out in conjunction with the gas and power division of Italian oil giant ENI and should be ready by the end of the year.
In January, Enemalta and ENI, one of the world's leading natural gas suppliers, signed an agreement to carry out a detailed study to establish the technical viability and economic feasibility of laying a gas pipeline between Sicily and Malta.
The study will also go into the cost of modifications to the power stations for the use of gas instead of fuel oil or gas oil.
A pipeline would cost between $120 million to $140 million and take approximately 18 months to build.