Sargas plant ‘could be powered by gas’

Sargas, the Norwegian company proposing a €1 billion investment in a clean energy power plant, yesterday welcomed Malta’s decision to ask it for a full feasibility study, saying the plant could also be run on gas. The company’s CEO Henrik Fleischer told The Times he was pleased the Government had conceded that the proposal would translate into cheaper utility tariffs. The company was now looking forward to further talks. Mr Fleischer added that Sargas had not yet received a formal request and had learned the news from the media. “It has taken us over three years to concretise an understanding on feasibility between the parties,” Mr Fleischer said from his Oslo office. He said the technology was being set up in several countries, particularly the US, adding: “We have not given up on Malta in spite of our massive investment programme in other countries.” Mr Fleischer made it clear that Sargas was willing to address all the issues identified by a pre-feasibility study commissioned by the Government from KPMG. The project offered to Malta, he underlined, was not intrinsically linked to biomass or coal as a fuel but gas was also “a veritable possibility.” The Sargas technology would...