Strength of wind energy

The editorial of February 8, Challenging, But Essential, Targets, correctly drew attention to Malta's fraught energy situation and the importance of acting quickly to avert an energy catastrophe.

The simple fact is that Malta is so far behind in renewables that a solution is no longer a matter of choice (or a question of fussing over aesthetics) but a dire necessity.

Wind and sun are in plentiful supply and they should both be exploited as much as possible.

Photovoltaics (PV), and, to a lesser extent, biomass have much to offer to Malta. Things are happening here but not fast enough.

The technology of photovoltaics is unfortunately expensive but durability and reliability of energy yield is such that the expense is justified and ways must be found to encourage the uptake of domestic rooftop PV generation by home owners.

This could contribute a substantial amount of clean energy to our grid. The potential of photovoltaic panels, if installed on all effective available roof space of existing buildings in Malta, was estimated at 201,883 MWh per annum, or equivalent to about 9.1 per cent electricity generated in 2003.

Large-scale wind technology is not being exploited at all in Malta and nothing is being done to facilitate its introduction in the near future owing to the inexplicable negativism of our government towards land-based wind farms based purely on misrepresentation of traditional old objections. This negativism is damaging because it continues to deprive Malta of her first step towards large-scale exploitation of renewable energy - and the opportunity to acquire hands-on experience with wind power. The prejudice against land based wind energy is all the more unfounded when so much of Malta is cluttered with cranes, construction chaos and jerry-build apartment blocks which continue to eat up precious land.

Apart from the micro-wind initiative, the totality of Malta's wind energy activity is a small-scale wind energy pilot project with a miniature three kilowatt wind turbine set up on a five-metre pole at Marfa. Its energy output is about enough to run four breakfast toasters. Such a project is a purely cosmetic exercise.

Land based turbines can now produce clean electricity at about the same price as oil - or less.

The potential of suitably sited land-based wind turbines continues to be ignored and under-estimated, leaving Malta 100 per cent dependent on oil for generation of electricity for the foreseeable future. A realistic appraisal shows that land based wind energy can easily meet five to six per cent of Malta's electricity needs and near offshore about three to four per cent, representing around nine per cent of Malta's electricity needs - or the electricity needs of 10,000 to 12,000 households.

In the face of all this there is no justification for continued pussy-footing on wind farms erected on land based on the mantra of "aesthetic impact on limited open spaces" which keeps on being repeated. This objection is based on a false perception that the introduction of wind energy would mean covering the whole of Malta with a forest of wind turbines. This is nonsense. The area required for a sizeable wind farm of 12 large turbines, capable of meeting the electricity needs of 6,000 to 7,000 houses, is less than a square mile - less than a golf course. The useful life of a turbine is 20-25 years so they are not permanent structures, the disturbance of terrain for foundations of the pylons is minimal and they can be removed without leaving a trace if better technology becomes available .

The objection of "limited open spaces" is based on ignorance. Malta is very small but our built-up areas are squeezed into one quarter of its land surface, mostly to the North and East. This leaves relatively large tracts of uninhabited terrain, in the South-west. Many of these are high and they are fully exposed to our prevailing majistral. This is where one or more discrete wind farms could easily be established without undue disturbance to anybody or to our tourist industry. Close-offshore sea-based wind energy in shallower water is also a possibility. The higher price of installing sea based wind energy could be partly offset by the higher yield of energy from stronger winds out at sea. But the obvious choice, from both the financial and feasibility aspect, is land based wind energy.

It is time something starts to be done. The choice of options is limited so there is no room for being finicky over imaginary "aesthetics" when it is so often the case that these magnificent gigantic windmills, once built, become a source of wonder and an attraction to onlookers.

And it is nonsensical to assert that wind energy deters tourists. They do not.

It is a safe bet that a wind farm built in Malta will immediately become a favourite Mecca for Sunday picnics which will rival our airport terminal. Any takers?