Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1342444
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 FEBRUARY 2021 NEWS Environment Protection Act, 2016 Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations (S.L. 549.46) CORRECTION OF NOTICE PUBLISHED ON 14 th FEBRUARY 2021 ON THE SUBMISSION OF UPDATED DOCUMENTATION TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT P ROPOSED CITY CENTRE MULTI-USE DEVELOPMENT, INCLUDING EXCAVATION OF FORMER ITS SITE & WESGHET LEWIS V. FARRUGIA/WESGHET GEORGE PORTANIER, DEMOLITION OF MODERN STRUCTURES, SANCTIONING OF PARTLY DEMOLISHED NON-SCHEDULED BUILDING, RETENTION OF GRADE 2 SCHEDULED BUILDINGS AND COLD WAR SUBSTATION, CONSTRUCTION OF A 5 STAR HOTEL (386 ROOMS) CLASS 3B, 179 RESIDENCES, COMMERCIAL OFFICE SPACE (CLASS 4A), SHOPPING MALL (CLASS 4B) AND RESTAURANTS (CLASS 4C AND 4D) AND BASEMENT / SURFACE CAR PARK. THE PROPOSAL ALSO INCLUDES THE RETENTION AND INTEGRATION OF GRADE 2 MILITARY BLOCKS, COLD WAR SUBSTATION AND INTEGRATION OF OTHER EXISTING STRUCTURES. Site at, Former ITS Site, Wesghet George Portanier & Wesghet Lewis V. Farrugia, Triq il-Profs. Walter Ganado, Triq Pietru D'Armenia, Pembroke & Triq il-Profs. Walter Ganado, Ix-Xatt ta' San Gorg, San Giljan, Malta PA 03807/17 Notice is hereby being given that the deadline for submissions by the public in connection with the above Environmental Impact Assessment, as per notice published on the 14 th February 2021, is being revised from the 13 th March 2021 to the 17 th March 2021. Digital copies of the updated documentation to the Environmental Impact Assessment Report are available on the ERA website: https://era.org.mt/era-project/pa03807-17/ Digital copies of the same document are also available at the Pembroke and San Ġiljan Local Council and the ERA offices in Marsa for public inspection. Anyone who wishes to make any submissions on environmental matters should write to the Director of Environment and Resources, Environment and Resources Authority, Hexagon House, Spencer Hill, Marsa MRS 1441, or send an email to eia.malta@era.org.mt, by the 17 th March 2021. Date: 21 st February 2021. Disclaimer: The Authority is committed to protect the personal data and privacy of the public in general. You are being informed that when making submissions, your personal data will not be disclosed or published unless within twelve (12) hours you give consent to the Authority to disclose your personal data. Provided that the Authority may disclose your personal data in those cases where it is required to do so, in order to comply with the applicable Laws. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The 'Green Island' wind tur- bine project was said to be able to power the sister island en- tirely, as well as export some spillover electricity to Malta. The project has been pitched to the European Commission's Innovation Fund, a €10 bil- lion fund for the commercial demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies to support the transition to cli- mate neutrality. MaltaToday understands the project includes the part- nership of state energy utili- ty Enemalta, the Energy and Water Agency, the University of Malta, but also Shanghai Power Electric, the Chinese state company that is today the owner of the Delimara 3 power plant. Sources said the Green Island wind energy project will turn Gozo into a carbon-neutral island well before 2050. The clean energy will also be pro- duced by onshore solar power, this newspaper was told. But in-depth studies are still required on the siting of pho- tovoltaic and wind turbine plants, although the sites were said to "steer clear from con- servation areas". The sources made clear ref- erence to PN leader Bernard Grech's proposal for wind en- ergy, insisting that this pro- ject "has been on the country's agenda for quite some time, and work on it has already started." The consortium leading the project submitted the applica- tion to tap the EU funds back in mid-2020. Malta's energy future is back on the agenda after plans for a gas pipeline, connecting Sicily to Malta, were thwarted in a second refusal of EU funds by the European Commission's INEA. The pipeline would have connected Europe's gas supply to Malta, which currently uses a floating LNG vessel to pro- vide its Delimara plant with gas. But the European Commis- sion's priorities and climate goals have changed radical- ly, and despite an attempt at turning the gas pipeline in a hydrogen-ready connection, the INEA agency turned down Malta's bid for European funds. Malta is also connected to the European mainland through an electricity interconnector, which imports electrical ener- gy directly and is still consid- ered to be cheaper than the 18-year deal on gas imported by Electrogas. That deal has been marred by the associa- tion of Electrogas shareholder Yorgen Fenech and the former prime minister's chief of staff Keith Schembri, in the offshore company 17 Black. The Labour government had already scrapped wind in fa- vour of solar energy farms in 2014 to reach its EU renewa- bles targets – producing 10% of its energy through renewable sources by 2020, which it failed at. The Nationalist administra- tion's original plan was to see the generation of up to 4% of Malta's energy consumption derived from an offshore wind farm at Is-Sikka l-Bajda off Mellieha. But environmental NGOs had criticised the pro- ject since its inception, warn- ing about the negative impact an offshore wind farm would have so close to the Għadira Nature Reserve and areas of special conservation. Before 2013, the Nationalist administration – which spent two decades neglecting the energy sector despite the in- terconnector's positive legacy – had been pursuing plans for offshore wind. Indeed, the Green Island pro- posal by Labour bears some resemblance to previous hopes for an offshore wind farm ca- pable of operating 12 nauti- cal miles offshore – but at the time, the technology was less developed or too costly for the Maltese government. Indeed, the Gonzi administration in 2009 had claimed the Sikka l-Bajda offshore option was not viable, leading it to opt for an €80 million land-based wind farm that was eventually never pursued. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Gozo offshore site earmarked for €200m wind energy project