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The Maltese Herald

10% of Malta’s energy consumption was produced by PV in 2022

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by

Mark Camilleri
in

In 2022, there were around 32,452 PV solar panels, which produced 289.5 GWh of the 2,880.5 GWh of energy consumed in Malta in 2022; around 10%.

With a total number of households in Malta of around 221,500, there are only 14% of households having PV panels if every household had one panel. In fact, only around 20,000 homes had PV panels in 2020.

The government’s main energy policy is to redirect our dependence on natural-gas through the Delimara power station and the current European interconnector onto renewable-energy sources. It is putting a lot of focus on PV and clearly the government’s effort to promote PV via subsidies seems to be having its intended effect, and more ground can be covered given that many more households are still without it.

The amount of PVs to power a single house is still too high to consider it as a major solution by itself, apart from the fact that waning off natural-gas is not necessarily very energy-efficient in terms of reduction in gas-emissions.

Comments

  1. Sparky avatar
    Sparky

    Of course it’s a measly 10%! The nation’s power demand has been on the rise since 2015 with demand expected to exceed supply by 2035. Panels are most efficient in April. Higher temperatures reduce efficiency. They are affected by shadow (read flats). Use of solar energy is commendable but is no miracle solution. More buildings means more cooling systems. These generate heat. Towers covered in reflective surfaces may be increasing urban temperatures. Overpopulation means it’s a vicious cycle. We are in a crisis. More people are opting to quit. Malta – wake up. Gozo will be in a similar situation in a few years time because people are now buying property (has been for a couple of years now) to escape from it all. Escaping gets you nowhere. It will come bite back. People in Malta are getting sick constantly – no need to be a scientist to understand this. Dust particles are now a permanent resident inside homes. I repeat, Malta, wake up and grow up.

    Reply
  2. Steve avatar
    Steve

    Who will invest in solar panels outside UCA or Villa areas when neighbors can build higher and shadow you ? Labour has spoken about solar rights when in opposition but it remains a dead letter

    Reply
  3. Miriam Dalli’s consultant and an engineer with no experience in the energy sector becomes Head of the Climate Action Authority – Mark Camilleri avatar
    Miriam Dalli’s consultant and an engineer with no experience in the energy sector becomes Head of the Climate Action Authority – Mark Camilleri

    […] fact that Abigail Cutajar has never worked in the energy sector, she intends to cover Malta with solar-panels and install wind-turbines off the Maltese coast (an incredibly anti-environmental thing to do). She […]

    Reply

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