Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1530259
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 DECEMBER 2024 NEWS KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt GOVERNMENT'S ambi- tious plan to produce around 300MW of energy from float- ing wind turbines has an esti- mated contract value of €1 bil- lion, public documents show. The government on Thurs- day issued a call for interest- ed parties to participate in a competitive process for the "design, construction, oper- ation, maintenance and de- commissioning" of a floating wind farm situated 12 nautical miles away from shore. The concession will be for 35 years and the two sites identified by the government for a potential wind farm are Hurd's Bank, off Marsaskala, and to the south, off the Free- port. The two areas are situated outside territorial waters but within Malta's Exclusive Eco- nomic Zone. Bidders will be expected to identify where they plan to site their project within the identified areas. This means that plans an- nounced a few years ago for a floating offshore wind farm off Marsalforn in Gozo have been pushed to the side. A spokesperson for Inter- connect Malta (ICM), the gov- ernment agency responsible for this project told MaltaTo- day that the two chosen sites were selected following an evaluation that took into con- sideration the distance from the Delimara power station, where the cables will be con- nected; the areas that are likely to suffer least environmental impact and the strength of the wind. Tender documents availa- ble on the government's ten- dering portal show that the sites are located on the Mal- tese continental shelf in areas reaching depths of about 100- 150m. The government is targeting a project with a wind gener- ation plant with an installed capacity of between 280MW and 320MW. The potential developer is to build and op- erate the project in a portion of one of the areas specified for this use and energy gen- erated by the turbines will be transmitted back to shore via export cables. The competitive process will involve three stages: Stage 1 is the Preliminary Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ), Stage 2 is the Invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) and Stage 3 is the Best and Final Offer (BAFO). The estimated contract value is €1,007,000,000 and bidders have until 28 March to make their submissions. Writing in MaltaToday (see MT2) Energy Minister Miri- am Dalli and ICM CEO Ismail D'amato, said 5 December marked an "important mile- stone" in the diversification of Malta's energy landscape. "We stepped ambitiously towards a cleaner, greener to- morrow," they said. Government's ambitious plan to harness wind energy has a contract value of €1 billion CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Vella had also been the PL's com- munication chief before being appointed a person of trust in the Home Affairs Ministry's secretari- at. Hailing from Ħamrun, which forms part of the First District, Vel- la is quite active in the locality, and is even the President of the Għaqda Mużikali San Gejtanu (Tat-Tamal). Sources who spoke to this news- paper said Vella's co-option is "sorely needed", as Labour lacks political heavyweights in the dis- trict. The First District is the only one not represented in Cabinet by a minister following Aaron Farru- gia's removal from the executive in January of this year. The district, which has often served as a barometer of the na- tional mood, includes Ħamrun, Pieta and Valletta. It is current- ly represented in Cabinet by two parliamentary secretaries - district heavyweight Keith Tanti Azzopar- di, who is responsible for youths and Andy Ellul, who was however elected on the Third District. Sources said Vella co-option into parliament could help consolidate Labour's popularity in the minis- ter-less district. Nigel Vella had been touted as the Labour Party's next CEO, and had even been approached by Ab- ela, but was passed up for current CEO Leonid McKay, according to sources who had spoken to this newspaper. Shortly after a PL statement an- nouncing McKay's appointment was reported by the media, Vella took to Facebook with a cryptic post that he removed shortly after- wards. In his post, Vella wrote: "A phone call that changes everything. Not even face to face because that is too hard. A punch, two punch- es, this time around nothing will go unchallenged." A second source within the PL had said Vella's post was a clear reference to the manner by which he was "discarded" by the Labour leader. But in a second Facebook post, he reaffirmed his Labour cre- dentials, calling himself a "soldier of steel" insisting "nothing and no one can melt him". Vella's second post made no reference to political opponents, leading many within the party to interpret it as a message of defiance towards the PM. Yana Borg Debono Grech: Building bridges with Labour grassroots in Birkirkara? Yana Borg Debono Grech is La- bour's most popular candidate in the Birkirkara council, which is currently in a political deadlock on who will be its permanent mayor. She was elected with 1,805 first count votes. The Labour Birkirkara councillor is the third generation in her fami- ly to enter politics with the Labour Party. She is the daughter of former Birkirkara mayor Joanne Debono Grech and the granddaughter of former PL MP and minister Joe Debono Grech. In this year's local council elec- tion, no party obtained a majority in Birkirkara, with the PN and PL electing six councillors each, and independent candidate Kaylocke Buhagiar getting elected. In July, she defied party instruc- tions to vote in favour of Buhagiar's mayorship, leaving the council in a stalemate, and leading to Nation- alist councillor Desirei Grech be- ing elected mayor for a temporary three-month period. MaltaToday is informed the de- cision to nominate Buhagiar had irked a number of Labour coun- cillors, supporters and delegates, most notably Yana Debono Grech herself. Shortly after reports were pub- lished on Debono Grech's unwill- ingness to vote for Buhagiar's may- orship, MP Rosianne Cutajar, who was recently re-integrated back into the PL parliamentary group, had come out in her defence, ques- tioning why such instructions were issued by the party, saying it is in no position to "hurt people". "Her grandfather and mother are pillars in the Labour Party who have always loved the Karkarisi and Birkirkara," she said. "We made a mechanism to strengthen the rep- resentation of women in parlia- ment, and at the same time, some- one decided to deprive a woman, Yana, from serving as Mayor." Cutajar questioned in whose inter- ests' decisions were being taken. Sources said Borg Debono Grech's co-option into parliament could be Abela's way of making amends with her and her fami- ly, who still enjoy strong support among Labour grassroots voters in the locality. Last October, Labour deputy leader for party affairs Alex Agius Saliba uploaded a photo of him- self with the party's councillors in the locality to his Facebook page. The photo featured Borg Debono Grech, with the caption "A united team". Nigel Vella and Yana Borg Debono Grech both promised seat in the House