Malta has made little progress in reaching its 2030 renewable energy targets in the context of an EU commitment to promote a green economy. The government wants to reverse this poor performance by fostering investment in wind or solar floating farms in Malta’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
Energy Minister Miriam Dalli launched the National Policy for the Development of Offshore Renewable Energy that identifies six areas for wind or solar farms in waters around the Maltese islands.
Dalli argues, “We need to get to a point where our energy is generated from renewable sources so that we can be more autonomous.” There is a consensus that this is indeed a desirable objective. Still, the challenges are not to be underestimated.
The technology of offshore wind turbines is still evolving. Bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines – with foundations in the seabed – face depth constraints and can only be used in relatively shallow coastal waters. This is not a viable option for a small island like Malta.
The EU’s green economy agenda faces many challenges, including resistance from industry
Therefore, the offshore wind farm industry is pinning its hopes in the investment in floating offshore platforms that are cheaper to run and install, more environmentally friendly to sea life, and have greater output, according to those behind the technologies.
However, this technology is mostly still in the testing phase as the base of floating turbines needs to be engineered differently from their near-shore counterparts. Recent projects, including one off the coast of Scotland and one off Portugal’s north coast, show that it is possible to float wind turbines.
Susan Gourvenec is a Royal Academy of Engineering chair in the Emerging Technologies – Intelligent and Resilient Ocean Engineering of the University of Southampton. She argues, “Unfortunately, while floating wind farms are technically feasible, they are not economically viable. Doing anything offshore is expensive.” As an example, she adds that a wind farm has a life of about 25 years and, at the end of its life, investors need another €350 million to decommission it.
The commitment to invest in green renewable energy is most welcome, and with Malta’s limited ground areas, it is understandable that the offshore wind farm option was chosen. Still, this is a high-risk venture that will hopefully not discourage international investors from responding to the expressions of interest of the Maltese government.
One should not expect fast progress on this project. The cost of completing the necessary offshore site survey, installing, and commissioning the farm, and the operation costs run into hundreds of millions of euros. These costs will be included in the final price of the green energy generated by the wind farms.
The good news is that technological advances could make offshore wind farms viable in the longer term.
Still, politicians must not resort to magic thinking by kindling hope that this first step to investing in renewable energy is all that is needed to address past failures in accelerating the transition to more sustainable energy use.
The EU’s green economy agenda faces many challenges, including resistance from industry fretting about the cost of the transition in the context of other economic challenges. Even if the offshore wind farms project progresses smoothly, Malta will still lag in hitting its 2030 renewable energy targets.
Hopefully, this ambitious project will move ahead beyond the compilation of bulky technical reports that fail to make renewable energy generation a reality.