The renewable energy potential of Malta

Abstract

Since its accession as member of the EU, Malta’s interest in renewable energy applications has increased. This paper provides a realistic assessment of the technical potential of the different renewable energy sources in Malta based on a decade of monitoring and analysis of systems. Three different sources of renewable energy are directly available, namely solar and wind energies and energy from waste. The overall potential has been found to be 24% of the total fossil fuel-generated electricity in 2003, with 9.1% coming from rooftop solar photovoltaic systems, 5.4% from onshore wind farms, 3.4% from offshore wind farms and 5.6% being the contribution of energy from waste. Moreover, domestic solar water heating may offset an additional 4.8%. This assessment should be useful in the formulation of a renewable energy policy.