Could Malta reach the renewable energy target of 10% by 2020?

The prime advantages of using renewable energy are its sustainability and lack of depletion. Another one is the lack of pollution that is normally incumbent with other ways of producing energy. 

Conventional renewable energy sources include hydroelectric (water power), geothermal, wood, wood waste, municipal waste, landfill gas, other biomass, solar, and wind power. It is expected that in the near future when the natural gas and fossil fuel will definitely run out, the energy demand of the human population will definitely look towards renewable resources to fulfill its needs. However it has been hard to produce a huge amount of renewable energy.

During the 20^th century, throughout the world larger generation plants which were essentially thermal in nature were constructed. However the trend started to shift towards resources which can offer lesser pollution, less waste and naturally produced energy.

Following the aforementioned discussion Malta, being a member of European Union has been trying to upgrade its systems and achieve its goal of getting 10% energy from renewable sources by 2020. However the question still remains that whether Malta will be able to do so?

The need for developing renewable energy sources in Malta arose because of the fact the non-presence of any fossil fuel resources. Much of the energy usage depends on the oil which is also imported. This usage of oil has increased by a factor of 53 percent within a period of just 15 years. As a result Malta decided to develop energy through renewable resources. In 2008 the renewable energy market was at an early stage in Malta. Only solar energy and biofuels were used. The European Union Directive 2009/28/EC set Malta's target share of renewable energy at 10% by the year 2020.

Currently Malta is still working on solar energy and biofuels. Although the solar energy is still considered a tough job reason being the high prices of photovoltaic cells yet Renergy Limited has been able to provide solar panels at a reduced cost hence encouraging the citizens to buy them and fix them on their roofs. Biomass energy includes biofuel (bio-diesel/bioethanol) that is produced through the fermentation process of biomass and the product is mainly as a source of transport energy. Malta currently imports all biofuel. In addition to that Malta has been obtaining its renewable energy from waste resources; these resources include landfills, water treatment, and sewagetreatment plants where gases and heat produced during the treatment process are used to generate electricity. Lastly wind energy is considered as a huge prospect in Malta which also has received much speculation about its viability. But the best source of energy for Malta will always be that of leveraging the unlimited resource i.e the sun.

At the end however Malta is finding it difficult to reach the European Union’s pre-set target of going 10 percent renewable by 2020mainly due to the transport, heating/cooling and electricity.

This article was brought to you by Renergy Limited, You can check out their Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/renergymalta