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Wind Power News: Malta
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Former Enemalta Chair admits Montenegro wind farm deal was not in Malta’s interest
Jonathan Scerri, Enemalta chairman between 2021 and 2022, admitted that a shady deal the government struck for a wind farm in Montenegro was not in the company’s interest, but he did not act, he told a parliamentary committee, because he was focusing on other issues at the time. Scerri, an engineer, was addressing Parliament’s Public Appointments Committee during a hearing on his nomination to become chairman of the Malta Communications Authority (MCA). When PN MPs Adrian Delia and Karol Aquilina . . . Complete story »
Konrad Mizzi behind Montenegro wind farm project, report confirms
E-mails of ex-Enemalta employees were routinely ‘discarded’, ‘incorrect’ price listed on documents. Konrad Mizzi was behind the controversial Montenegro wind farm project, a review of the deal has confirmed, as it was finally published following a freedom of information battle by Times of Malta. The internal Enemalta review by law firm Mamo TCV, concluded in 2021, details how the former minister was the man behind the project taken up by Enemalta. Times of Malta and Reuters previously uncovered how Yorgen . . . Complete story »
Montenegro wind-farm audit found that Enemalta knew it was paying inflated price
An audit report into the Mozura wind-farm in Montenegro purchased by Enemalta from a company associated with Yorgen Fenech has found that the state energy company knowingly paid what was an inflated price for the facility, the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation said on Tuesday. The report was acquired after a successful appeal to two rejected Freedom of Information requests, and was also tabled in Parliament on Monday in response to a parliamentary question by PN MP Mark Anthony Sammut. The . . . Complete story »
Malta police say they have started Montenegro wind farm investigations
The police say they have been investigating the Montenegro wind farm deal, now at the centre of corruption allegations, for some time. This emerged from a statement issued by the police following a story by Reuters and the Times of Malta, in which Dubai based company 17 Black was revealed to have made a previously undisclosed profit of €4.6 million when Enemalta bought a wind farm in Montenegro. The wind farm was acquired by Enemalta in a lucrative deal for . . . Complete story »
Exclusive: In Daphne murder investigation, money trail leads to Montenegro venture
In the months before her murder in 2017, Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was on the trail of an offshore company called 17 Black Limited. She didn’t know who owned the firm, which was registered in the United Arab Emirates. But she was certain it was set up to channel corrupt payments to her country’s leaders, she wrote in her blog, without providing evidence. Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bombing in October 2017. Last year, police charged one . . . Complete story »
Wind power ditched in favour of solar as government revisits renewable energy plans
Wind is out and solar farms are in under the government’s revised plan for reaching its 2020 renewable energy targets. Malta is obliged by the European Commission to generate 10 per cent of its energy from renewable sources within the next four years, as well as a separate 10 per cent target in the transport sector. The actual overall figure stood at 4.2 per cent in 2014. The original 2010 plan for reaching these targets put a heavy emphasis on . . . Complete story »
MEPA turns down Sikka l-Bajda wind farm
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority has turned down the application presented by the previous government in 2009, for the development of a wind farm at is-Sikka l-Bajda that would have produced between 3.5% and 5.5% of Malta’s energy needs and more than half of Malta’s 10% renewable energy targets. Nationalist MP and MEPA board member Ryan Callus was the only member to vote against the recommended refusal on the project. Former environment minister George Pullicino insisted during the meeting . . . Complete story »
Directorate recommends refusal of wind farms development application
Nationalist MP George Pullicino expressed surprise this evening that the Mepa directorate is recommending refusal of a development application for a wind farm on Is-Sikka l-Bajda off Mellieha. Speaking in Parliament, Mr Pullicino said Malta could not ignore wind energy if it was to achieve its EU-mandated target of producing 10 per cent of its energy from renewable sources. He said he could not understand how the recommendation for refusal was being made when the full environmental impact study had . . . Complete story »
Government shifts renewable energy policy from wind to solar
Wind farm projects have been ruled out as studies indicated they are not possible or feasible in Malta, the permanent secretary in the Energy Ministry, Ronald Mizzi, said today. Addressing a news conference this morning, Mr Mizzi said the government was now basing its renewable energy policy to solar farms. According to new government plans, he said, Malta needed 2.7 square kilometres to produce five per cent of its renewable energy targets by 2010. Asked whether this was achievable in . . . Complete story »
Wind farms scrapped for solar energy
Solar energy farms will be the Labour government’s answer to the need for renewable energy in Malta, MaltaToday has learnt. The Ministry for Energy and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) are expected to publish a policy on solar farms in the coming weeks while the government is still consulting on the National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP). Bound by the EU 2020 targets, Malta must produce 10% of its energy through renewable sources by the year 2020. The . . . Complete story »
