Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1436880
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 DECEMBER 2021 OPINION Raphael Vassallo When 'power games' really do involve 'power'… I'VE always found it vaguely ap- propriate, that the word 'power' is used interchangeably to de- scribe both 'political authority', and also 'electrical energy'. For let's face it: those two things do have a lot in common. Just consider, for instance, how many of Malta's past elections have been dominated (or at the very least, characterized) by controversies specifically sur- rounding 'power generation'. It might seem like a long time ago; but those old enough to remember the 1992 election, will also recall the long months of 'environmental' protests that had preceded it: led by Opposition leader Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, and targeting the (then under construction) 'new' power station in Delima- ra. Now: it is obviously far too late to be digging up all those arguments once more… even if, in a roundabout kind of way, they still feel vaguely relevant. One way of looking at it, I sup- pose, is that the party which (at the time) represented the more realistic, down-to-earth and 'modern' approach to the energy question, was also the one which won that election by a landslide… And OK: there were other all sorts of other reasons to ac- count for the 1992 result. At the risk of a gross over-simpli- fication: after the experience of 16 long years under Labour – the last three of which un- der Mifsud Bonnici himself, as Prime Minister – a large ma- jority was simply reluctant to revert back to the 'old regime' so soon. (Sound familiar? It should…) Nonetheless, it would be fac- ile to deny that the actual issue itself – i.e., the nuts and bolts of how we actually generate (or import) electrical energy – did indeed make a difference to the final outcome. For one thing: electricity gen- eration WAS very much an electoral issue, back then. If some people still allude to the 1980s as 'The Dark Ages' … they are not just referring to all the political violence/insta- bility that so many of us still associate with that decade (you know: Tal-Barrani, Raymond Caruana, and all that.) No, it was also down to all the constant, intermittent pow- er-cuts we had to contend with so often: largely the result of an archaic (even by the stand- ards of the time) power station in Marsa, that simply couldn't cope with the growing energy demands of a rapidly industri- alizing country… There was no real question, then, that Malta really did need to overhaul its energy-gener- ating infrastructure; and while we can argue endlessly over the pros and cons of Eddie Fenech Adami's chosen strategy – i.e., to build a new, oil-fired pow- er station in Delimara – the fact remains that most people, at the time, were a good deal more concerned by another is- sue altogether. 'Will the light actually come on, the next time I press the switch?' That, ultimately, was the question uppermost on peo- ple's minds; and looking at it from their perspective, it is no surprise that the Maltese vot- ing public evidently felt much safer, voting for the party that actually replied 'Yes' to it (and which also came out with a de- tailed proposal that explained exactly how all that energy would be produced, too…) Which is not to say that Kar- menu Mifsud Bonnici elicited no sympathy whatsoever, in his early-1990s crusade to 'save Delimara from environmental ruin'. But… let's just say that there were also certain practi- calities to be considered first; and when it came down to a stark choice between, on the one hand, an 'environmentally friendly' (but hopelessly im- practical) approach; and on the other, a strategy which – while far from ideal – did, at least, offer practical solutions to the country's very real energy problems… … it was a no-brainer, really. Now, I'll admit that histori- cal analogies are tricky things, even at the best of times… but it is hard not to point out cer- tain parallels with later elec- tions: especially those of 2013 and 2017, in which 'power generation' also came to play a dominant role; and where, once again, the party seeming to offer the more 'convincing' answers, also went on to win both elections with increasing majorities. Having said this, the same ca- veats apply. How much, at the end of the day, did the Electro- gas proposal really contribute to Joseph Muscat's electoral successes, in 2013 and 2017? Truth be told, probably very little… and even then: that 'lit- tle' was achieved much more by the promise of 'cheaper' electricity, than by the actual technology being proposed to generate it. For by this time, the funda- mental question on most peo- ple's minds had also changed. It was no longer: 'Will the light actually come on?'… but rath- er: 'How much will it cost me, to press that switch?' So regardless how much of Labour's energy vision has been irremediably tainted ever since; and no matter how many corruption scandals we have since gotten to know about… back in 2013, the electorate was still faced with a stark choice between a party prom- ising to overhaul Malta's ener- gy infrastructure, so as to both lower CO2 emissions, and – more importantly – electricity prices… … and another party which opposed the same energy plan, on all sorts of (plausible and implausible) grounds; but which, quite frankly, wasn't really proposing anything very convincing of its own. In any case: the upshot is that, for better or worse, the same Electrogas contract eventually carried the day – for much the same reason as Eddie's ener- gy vision had earlier trumped Karmenu's – and as a result, Malta now generates its power by burning natural gas… which still has to be imported from overseas; hence, the entire strategy's reliance on a future gas pipeline to Sicily (for which funds have already been allo- cated by the EU). Now: is that situation 'ide- al'? Erm… no, far from it. For even before we get to all the corruption scandals… it is now evident that the same approach that felt so 'modern', six or sev- en years ago, has already been overtaken by certain… let's call them, 'developments'. One is that the entire world – including, naturally, Malta – is currently bracing itself for an explosion in the international price of natural gas (for geopo- litical reasons that are far too complex to go into here). Another is that, on a Euro-po- litical level, the European Com- mission is now insisting on yet another transition – this time, from natural gas to hydrogen – which also means that our entire national energy infra- structure (which we've only just overhauled, at considera- ble cost) now needs a lot more investment to cater for another technological revolution in the near future. Not to stress too fine a point, but… this is the backdrop against which Malta's entire energy-generating infrastruc- ture is now under full-frontal attack: not merely from the geo-political realities I have just described… but also, on