Mediterranean Action Plan

III. NATIONAL STUDY
1. The energy situation in Malta
MALTA - National study
1.1 Share of t he energy s ecto r and ins ti t utions
The Maltese archipelago consists of Malta, Gozo and Comino and a number of uninhabited
islets. The total area is 316 km 2
and the population is approximately 400,000. Between 1931
and 2005 the population density increased from 764 to 1,282 inhabitants/km 2
. Malta has one
of the highest population densities in the world and this is almost 11 times the EU25 average.
The average population growth rate between 1995-2005 was 0.7% / annum.
The economy of Malta is highly dependant upon the tourism and manufacturing industries.
The manufacturing industry is characterised by a significant proportion of micro enterprises
consisting around 94 % of the total number of firms in these two sectors. There are also a
number of relatively large foreign owned subsidiaries of multinational companies operating
and these are mostly export driven. Tourism also contributes significantly to Malta‟s
economic growth, employment creation and foreign exchange earnings.
1.1.1 Sector’s Economic Weight
Malta is practically totally dependent upon imported fossil fuels for its energy needs. Malta
has no refineries. Malta also has no natural gas, gas network or interconnections. Coal for
electricity generation used to be imported until the 1990s but this was stopped for
environmental reasons.
The State of the Environment report notes that in 2003 over 63% of the primary energy is
used for power generation. The remaining oil consumption is mainly used for transportation
(85%) and only a minor share is used for other purposes (15%). Heavy fuel oil and light
distillate are used for power generation. Transport fuel consists of petroleum products and a
small percentage of biodiesel (0.52%) (1.5 million litres of biodiesel).
Consumption of electrical energy has been increasing steadily over the years and this is due
to various factors including economic growth and higher living standards. The electricity
demand has increased from 284 GWh in 1970, 550 GWh in 1980, 1,186 GWh in 1990 to
1,603 GWh in 1995 to 2,263 GWh in 2005. Between 1970–1980 the average annual
increase in electricity generation was 8.8 %. The average annual increase in electricity
generation between 1981–1990 was 12 % and between 1991 – 2000 it was around 6.1%.
The active power maximum demand in summer has over the past few years surpassed the
winter maximum demand in terms of magnitude.
Figure 1 Power Generation 1970- 2006
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