The government has launched a public call to businesses interested in building Malta’s first offshore wind farm.
The pre-qualification questionnaire, issued on Thursday, allows private companies to register their interest in eventually building the renewable energy project. Interested businesses will have to present details about their technical and financial capabilities to demonstrate they are able to take on the project.
They will also be given key details of the project.
The information given in the questionnaire will be used to shortlist the top five candidates for the next stage: an invitation to participate in dialogue. In that stage, the candidate companies will discuss the issue with the government entity overseeing the process, Interconnect Malta.
The companies will then present their 'Best and Final Offer' before Interconnect Malta decides on a winning bidder.
“This project is not only crucial for energy generation but will also have a positive environmental impact. It addresses Malta’s space limitations in a sustainable manner. Unlike other proposals discussed in the past, this project has been meticulously planned,” Environment and Energy Minister Miriam Dalli said.
Prime Minister Robert Abela said the project will enhance Malta’s energy diversification and increase the use of renewable energy.
Abela said the second interconnector to Sicily, set to be ready by the end of the government’s legislature, will also help to strengthen Malta’s energy supply.
Times of Malta understands that the government is tentatively planning to see the wind farm up and running by the end of the next legislature, somewhere around 2032.
The National Policy for the Development of Offshore Renewable Energy was issued for public consultation in August 2023. In that consultation, six companies expressed interest.
They were among 64 entities and individuals who submitted their views on the policy.
Around 10 per cent of Malta’s energy is generated from renewable sources.
Most of that comes from solar panels, which take a lot of space in a country where land is limited and expensive.
Energy from renewable sources in 2022 produced 297 GWh (gigawatt hours) paling in comparison to the 1,996.5 GWh produced in power plants, National Statics Office data shows.
Plans for an offshore wind farm date back to 2009 when the government considered three offshore sites as possible sites to install wind turbines.
Wied Rini in the limits of Baħrija, the Ħal Far industrial estate and Is-Sikka l-Bajda, just off the coast at L-Aħrax in Mellieħa were all deemed potential sites.
While those plans would have seen the turbines just off the coast, the government is now looking to install the turbines 12 nautical miles off the coast outside Malta’s territorial waters but within the country’s exclusive economic zone.