On 31 January, 2024, Minister for the Environment, Energy & Regeneration of the Grand Harbour, Hon. Miriam Dalli, announced a preliminary market consultation (PMC) with the aim of assessing the readiness of the market for nearshore floating solar farms in Maltese territorial waters.
Members of UM's Institute for Sustainable Energy, together with Malta's Ambassador for Climate Action, Prof. Simone Borg, the Ministry's Permanent Secretary Joseph Caruana, Director General for Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change Margaret Cassar and representatives of the Planning Authority, Enemalta plc, Interconnect Malta, Environment and Resources Authority, the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Engineers, the Chamber of SMEs, the Malta Developers Association, the Malta Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energies Association and the Malta Intelligent Energy Management Agency, were present for the launch.
The PMC identifies an area four nautical miles off the coast of Delimara as the first possible site for the development of grid-connected floating solar technology projects, with a potential capacity of 50 megawatts of renewable energy.
“We are providing many support initiatives to encourage families and entrepreneurs to develop more land-based clean energy systems. The share of renewables in our energy mix is increasing every year. However, in a small island state, spaces for renewables on land are limited. We believe that the vast opportunities offered by our seas can be an important solution. Floating solar farms in open seas are a nascent technology that will continue to expand in coming years through further research and development. Through this consultation, we are triggering a process that can encourage investors and innovators to place Malta at the forefront of this innovative green technology," Minister Miriam Dalli said.
Investors that may eventually be identified for such projects would be required to obtain the required development and environmental authorisations, and conduct studies, such as seabed analysis, to determine the environmental and technical suitability of each site.
Ing. Mark Camilleri, from REWS, said that the PMC document and all other relevant information are available online. The consultation will be open until Wednesday, 24 April 2024.
The Institute has been working on floating offshore structures for a while.
In 2015, the Solaqua team was the first in the world to test solar systems in open sea off the Maltese coast near Qalet Marku
In 2021, the Director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Prof. Luciano Mule' Stagno, filed a patent entitled 'Floating Offshore Structure'. This was part of the Solaqua project.
In 2023, through research project FORTRESS (A Floating OffshoRe BreakwaTer for Supporting Marine Renewable Energy around ISlandS), a group of UM researchers developed a breakwater design to support offshore renewables by attenuating rough waves while at the same time storing energy.