Norwegian entrepreneur offers ‘miracle’ solution for electricity bills and emissions

Sargas, a company which specialises in clean power plants, has met several times with Enemalta and passed its proposals to the Maltese government on how the island could reduce its electricity bills by half, while producing zero emissions.

Speaking to Saviour Balzan on Reporter, Sargas CEO Henrik Fleischer said he met several times with Enemalta to discuss the idea of placing a floating power plant in Delimara, which would be built elsewhere.

"It is 95% cleaned up which means that 95% of all the emissions will be removed. The plant burns a mixture of oil products, coal and biomass in such a way that the costs of the clean up are minimised," Fleischer stressed, adding that Sargas is the global leader in low-cost clean energy produced by fossil fuel.

Fleischer said that the future energy picture consists of renewable energy and fossil fuel: "It is the means for the future whether we like it or not. But renewable energy is expensive. The reality is that most of the countries cannot afford to switch to renewable energy.

"Our technology offers the use of fossil fuels but with clean emission."

From 2013, EU member states will have to pay for the emissions they produce. This means that consumers will have additional emission costs to their electricity bills.

"And this is precisely what we are trying to avoid," he said.

According to Fleischer, for Malta this technology would mean a "dramatic reduction" in electricity bills, and would make the country look good with the European Union because of the clean energy plant.

"The costs are at the minimum - much less than today's costs," Fleischer stressed, amounting about half of what they are today.

"They will certainly be half of the future bills as from 2013, consumers will have to pay for the emissions. But with our system, there will be no emissions to pay for."

The EU demands that the payment of emissions is per tonne of carbon. Currently the cost per tonne is of €15 which, according to Fleischer, may grow to around €40 per tonne - "costs which will be shouldered by the consumers".

Sargas's technology would cost €1 billion - which includes the power plant, connections, fuel and fuel storage. However, it's not government who would foot the bill:

"We would build it, finance it and own it ourselves and lease out the electricity. If in the future government would want to own it, it may use the option to acquire ownership."

The technology works in a way that no dust and ash is released into the atmosphere but is stored at the bottom of the boiler. "That dust and ash would then be sold and mixed with concrete, ideal for fixing up the roads," he said.

Fleischer said Enemalta took great interest in the proposal and admitted it had been very skeptical: "They asked us several questions and we are delighted with their feedback, the questions and the seminars. They really looked at it from all angles."