Confusion as Dalli contradicts Enemalta boss over €46 million power plant

Aqra dan l-artiklu bil-Malti.

The chaos at Enemalta is again evident, this time due to an open confrontation between Energy Minister Miriam Dalli and the newly appointed chairman of the corporation, Ryan Fava, chosen by the prime minister.

Asked by PN MP Ryan Callus to give details on the procurement of a new temporary power plant, costing taxpayers an estimated €46 million, Dalli distanced herself from the chairman’s position.

Contradicting Fava, Dalli insisted that it was not true that Enemalta did not have enough capacity to supply the island this summer.

“As we have said many times, Enemalta already has enough generation sources to furnish current and future demand,” she told parliament.

This is factually incorrect since Enemalta has less than 600MW at its disposal, excluding the interconnector.

Her statement seems to have been aimed at denting the credibility of Enemalta Chair Ryan Fava, who told the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) that Enemalta had a shortfall in generation and needed the new plant in place as soon as possible.

In his letter to ERA last November – a month after his appointment – Fava did not mince his words about the crisis that Enemalta, under Dalli, somehow missed.

Explaining in detail that last summer Malta experienced a peak demand of 663 MW (megawatt), Fava told ERA that “Enemalta anticipates that the demand for summer 2024 will rise even higher and that unless the project (new temporary power plant) is commissioned by the intended date (May), that is, before the summer of 2024, it will not be able to guarantee the security of electricity supply.”

Dalli was also asked why Enemalta chose to lease a diesel-fired plant instead of a cleaner alternative such as LNG.

She refused to answer and instead told parliament the offer issued by Enemalta “is not for a specific technology”.

This is also untrue, as Enemalta’s offer calls for a diesel-fired plant.

Miriam Dalli vs Robert Abela

In the summer of 2023, Malta suffered long power cuts, sometimes lasting days.

Prime Minister Robert Abela ordered the sacking of then-chairman Jonathan Cardona, who was appointed to the position by Dalli despite having little relevant experience in the energy sector.

In August, Dalli resisted the prime minister’s request and kept insisting The Shift’s reports of his imminent departure were false.

By October, he was gone. Cardona was replaced by Fava, the prime minister’s choice.

Just a month after his appointment, Fava wrote to ERA regarding the urgent need for a new power plant by this summer.