Electric fleet places huge demand on Maltese grid – PN candidate

Nationalist Party candidate for Europe Peter Agius believes the Labour administration is unprepared for a future in which Malta’s entire car fleet will be electric.

He said the infrastructure will be unable to keep up with the higher demand for electricity.

“The ongoing electricity crisis is set to get worse with the increase in demand by 65,000 electric vehicles on our roads by 2030,” Agius said, citing data from an independent engineer that predicts the needs for an additional 77 Megawatts in power to charge such an expansive electric fleet.

Malta’s electricity distribution grid came under stress during a heatwave in July that generated power cuts across several localities on an unprecedented scale, as national demand exceeded 600MW.

Agius says a study he commissioned from an independent expert shows that national electricity demand is set to rise by over 10% above present current needs when Malta’s declared target of 65,000 electric vehicles on our roads by 2030 would be achieved.

“Our families are ending up throwing away food and spending sleepless nights without electricity when national demand is still relatively low,” he said of the recent blackouts. “What will happen when 65,000 electric vehicles are also plugged to this same failing network? This government is clearly not future-ready, setting targets for electric vehicles but failing to invest to make these targets a feasible reality.”

Agius said Malta was bound to contribute to the EU’s ambition on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% below 1990 levels, by 2030. He said the measure is supported by the European Parliament vote to ban the sale of internal combustion engine cars by 2035 – but Agius’s European political family, the EPP, had also voted against the original proposal, having supported the 2035 emissions reduction target at 90%, without any clear engine end date.

Agius’s study predicts the need of 77MW of energy in addition to the 649MW already in demand in July this year. “With the current demand of 649MW, over 27 localities ended with no electricity or water. What will happen if we add 77MW to the existing demand? Electricity distribution will fail us again and again.”

“In this scenario Malta has a clear choice to make. We need an alternative economic model and more competent political leadership if we want to tap into the benefits of the green economy. This will need a radical rethink of the current economic model of increasing GDP through ever-growing population numbers. The Maltese people are not ready to give up on our ambition of zero emissions mobility and a better-quality environment while doing our part to fight climate change.”

Second interconnector

The construction of a second interconnector is already deemed necessary to keep up with rising energy demand, reduce local emissions and stabilising the grid for offshore renewable plants.

Without it, Malta will “face challenges” in meeting its electricity demand during peak periods, an Environment Impact Assessment commissioned by government company Interconnect Malta, has warned.

A second interconnector to Ragusa in Sicily, will provide Malta with a reliable and stable supply of energy from the European mainland, “reducing the risk of blackouts and ensuring the uninterrupted supply of electricity to households and businesses”.

But its impact on climate change also depends on whether the energy bought from Europe is renewable or derived from fossil fuels.

Already the proposed shift in EV transportation is expected to increase the overall demand for electricity by a significant margin, with the electrical supply “unlikely to remain sufficient and reliable to meet the load in the medium to long-term”.

The 225MW interconnector is expecting to meet future energy demands, while necessary to offset atmospheric emissions from the existing natural gas and diesel oil power stations at Delimara.

The EIA suggests that these combined-cycle gas turbines will be used for “for grid balancing or as backup in case of constraints on the use of the interconnectors”.

In 2021, 71% of the electricity produced in Malta was generated from power plants, 19.1% was imported from the existing interconnector, and 9.9% was produced from renewable energy sources. This amounted to an annual total of 2,671.8 GWh, a 7% increase from the previous year which coincided with the pandemic.