‘Unreliability and faults’ found at new Electrogas power plant

Enemalta chairman Frederick Azzopardi has flagged “evidence of unreliability and faults” in both the construction and operation of the new power station, the Times of Malta has learnt. Sources said Mr Azzopardi wrote to Electrogas and the government in August, expressing Enemalta’s concerns about whether the new plant could guarantee the security of the country’s energy supply. Mr Azzopardi said Enemalta was not yet aware whether this was down to “incompetence” by Electrogas or whether there were more significant underlying problems with the new plant. The government has contractually bound Enemalta to buy energy from Electrogas for an 18-year period. READ: Electrogas in ‘serious’ default of €450 million loan deal Former energy minister Konrad Mizzi had always pitched the new gas-fired power station as being vital to ensuring the country’s security of supply. Mr Azzopardi said he was not willing to cut off Malta from the Sicily interconnector in order for Electrogas to carry out certain tests as that would endanger the security of supply, the sources added. This newspaper reported in June that Enemalta was still buying most of the electricity required through the interconnector...