Biofuels in Malta
General
Malta
has no indigenous resource of fossil fuels and no gas distribution
network. Two electricity plants totalling 571 MW are in operation. In
August 2006 a Draft Renewable Energy Policy has been published. No specific policy for the uptake of renewables has been
developed recently.
According
to the Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources
the target for the share of energy from renewable sources in gross
final consumption of energy in the year 2020 for Malta is 10% (in the
year 2005 the share was 0.0%). The Directive has a mandatory 10 %
target for transport to be achieved by all Member States, which refers
to renewable sources as a whole, not biofuels alone.
Renewable energy projections according to the National Renewable Energy Action Plan for Malta
The
National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) for Malta was submitted
in July 2010. The target according to Annex I of Directive 2009/28/EC
is 10% for the year 2020 and the projected NREAP share in that year is
10.2%. According to the projection, the most important
contribution in the year 2020 is expected from renewable
electricity (renewable transport) (37 ktoe, 68% of all renewable
energy). Second important contribution is expected from wind power (0.3
TWh or 22 ktoe, 40% of all renewable energy). The third largest
contribution is from biomass (renewable electricity) (0.1 TWh or 12
ktoe, 21% of all renewable energy). Wind power contribution is expected
in the year 2020 from onshore wind (15 MW and 38 GWh) and offshore wind
(95 MW and 216 GWh). For solar photovoltaic the 2020 contribution is
projected to be 28 MW (43 GWh). For solar thermal the 2020 contribution
is projected to be 3 ktoe. The renewable electricity production from
solid biomass amounts to 86 GWh (7 ktoe) and for biogas it is expected
to be 50 GWh (4 ktoe). The consumption of renewable heat is expected to
amount to zero ktoe for solid biomass and 2 ktoe for biogas.
Renewable transport fuels
(biofuel)
From
the beginning of 2005, Malta has incorporated the Biofuel Directive
into its national law. It allows the use of biofuels, blends of
biofuels, mineral fuels, and requires the ‘Malta Resources Authority’
to monitor the effect of the use of biofuels in diesel blends above 5%
by non-adapted vehicles. The regulation also imposes reporting duties
on importers and producers as well as other obligations with regards to
the sale and labelling of biofuels. The act has set a national
in-dicative target for the end of 2005 of 0.3%. During November 2004,
the government announced that as from 2005, the biomass content in
biodiesel is exempted from the payment of excise duty. As a
demonstration project, the government has switched approximately 20-25
vehicles to run on biodiesel fuel in 2006. Malta has exceeded the
target for biofuel it had set for 2005 (0.30%); the actual share of
biofuel in 2005 was 0.52%.
The NREAP envisaged that the legal notice enabling the ‘substitution’ of
petroleum fuel with biofuel was to be published in 2010. However, this date has
now been revised to 2011. The MRA attributed this delay to issues relating to
provisions concerning the biofuel and petroleum standards, sustainability
criteria and the imposition of penalties for defaulters.
A significant
increase in the use of RES within the transport sector will be attained by
obliging importers and wholesalers to include an amount of biofuel content in
any petroleum product retailed locally.
Future programme changes
expected
No
specific information on future policy is available. Malta will focus on
support mechanisms for the promotion of renewables, thereby targeting
for contributions from EU structural funds.
Sources
Renewable energies fact sheet for Malta,
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/energy_policy/facts_en.htm (sourced August
2008)
Times of Malta, http://www.timesofmalta.com (sourced August 2008)
The
implementation of Directive 2001/77/EC on the promotion of electricity
from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market,
Ministry of resources and rural affairs, May 2008
Ministry of resources and rural affairs, http://www.mra.org.mt (sourced
August 2008)
Interactive EurObserv’ER Database, http://www.eurobserv-er.org (status
2007)
Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable
sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC
and 2003/30/EC (Entry into force on June 25th, 2009), download from
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32009L0028:EN:NOT
NAO (2011): Performance Audit – Renewable Energy in Malta Follow-up. National
Audit Office, Malta, 2011. http://www.nao.gov.mt/page.aspx?id=38 (sourced
June 2011)
The National Renewable Energy Action
Plans (NREAPs) are all published on the Transparency Platform on
Renewable Energy: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/transparency_platform/action_plan_en.htm
(sourced July - December 2010)
Renewable Energy Projections as Published in the National Renewable
Energy Action Plans of the European Member States, http://www.ecn.nl/nreap
(sourced December 2010)
Interactive EurObserv’ER Database
http://www.eurobserv-er.org
Last update: June 2011
This information can be referenced without permission provided that
thesource is mentioned completely and correctly: 'Interactive
EurObserv'ER
Database, http://www.eurobserv-er.org (date of last update)'
Suggestions for improvements to the policy description can be sent to
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