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James Madison University JMU Scholarly Commons Masters Theses The Graduate School Fall 12-18-2010 A preliminary assessment of the long-term prospects for offshore wind farms in Maltese territorial waters Dane Orion Zammit James Madison University Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019 Part of the Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons Recommended Citation Zammit, Dane Orion, "A preliminary assessment of the long-term prospects for offshore wind farms in Maltese territorial waters" (2010). Masters Theses. 435. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/435 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the The Graduate School at JMU Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Preliminary Assessment of the Long-Term Prospects for Offshore Wind Farms in Maltese Territorial Waters A dissertation presented in part fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Sustainable Environmental Resource Management By Dane Zammit November 2010 UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF Ing. Robert Farrugia Dr. Jonathan Miles Dr. Godwin Debono University of Malta – James Madison University ABSTRACT DANE ZAMMIT A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF THE LONG-TERM PROSPECTS FOR OFFSHORE WIND FARMS IN MALTESE TERRITORIAL WATERS Keywords: WIND; ENERGY; MALTA; OFFSHORE; VIABILITY; MARKET Almost all of Malta’s current interest in offshore wind development is focused on the development of an offshore wind farm at Sikka L-Bajda in northwest Malta by 2020, to help the country reach its mandated 2020 RES target. The offshore wind industry is rapidly gaining momentum, with larger projects in deeper waters further offshore being commissioned every year. Countries like Germany and the United Kingdom have actively constructed, or are planning to construct, offshore wind farms at transitional water depths before 2020. The offshore wind energy market has historically been restricted to the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Irish Sea in northern Europe. This geographical barrier has been overcome with the officially commissioning of a wind farm near Shanghai Bridge in China. The industry is poised to expand into the Mediterranean in 2011 with the reported commissioning of Tricase wind farm in Italy. There is significant interest in bringing offshore wind to North America, particularly in the United States. In order to continue this healthy growth, many companies are developing foundation structures that are stable and cost-effective in deeper waters further offshore. On average, the winds are stronger, more consistent and wind farms further offshore avoid a number of planning and stakeholder issues. Since Maltese waters are very deep, the commercialization of deep water technologies could exponentially increase its wind energy potential. A systematic approach for evaluating offshore wind farm viability is proposed and tested on three offshore sites proposed in 2005 by the Malta Resources Authority. The system considers a number of technical, planning, environmental and socio-economic issues and rates a given proposal using a weighting system. The system predicted that is-Sikka L-Bajda is the most viable wind farm proposal in shallow waters in Malta. The wind resource was judged to be adequate and while there were some planning and environmental issues, these are probably relatively easy to mitigate through proper implementation of Marine Spatial Planning. The proposal at Benghajsa Patch was judged to be poorly positioned and would have too many planning issues to be a viable choice. The site at North of Gozo is of marginal capacity and has some grid connection and potential TV and communications issues, but it could be an excellent supplementary project in conjunction with that at is-Sikka L-Bajda. Since this result is consistent with other studies conducted in Malta, the methodology was judged to be sufficient for evaluating the viability of a wind farms, but requires refinement through a procedure of consultation exercises and questionnaires with experts, authorities, stakeholders and the general public . Ing. Robert Farrugia November 2010 Dr. Jonathan Miles MSc. SERM Dr. Godwin Debono Dedications I would like to dedicate this thesis to my parents, Anthony and Francine, for their dedication and support in helping me achieve my dreams and goals and for encouraging me to be the best I could be at what I do. iii Acknowledgements I would like to take the time to thank the University of Malta’s International Masters Programme and the SERM Board of Studies for giving me the opportunity to continue my studies at UoM. I would like to thank my parents, my brothers, my family and friends for supporting me during the entire year. I would also to thank a few people in particular for their efforts in helping my complete my thesis. • Ing. Robert Farrugia – for being my thesis supervisor over the past few months and for his good and timely suggestions in aiding me produce and complete the best thesis I could. • Dr. Jonathan Miles – for being my thesis co-supervisor and for his help and advice during the early stages, particularly in writing the proposal. • Dr. Godwin Debono – for being my thesis co-supervisor and for his help and guidance on the geological portion of the dissertation. • Dr. Charles Galea – for providing the geological maps used in the thesis. • Mr. Jason Bongailas – for providing 2009 data recorded by the Malta Maritime Authority of vessels calling in Malta • Malta Environment and Planning Authority – for providing me with a CD of marine benthic data for the Maltese Islands, which was useful in establishing the primary marine environments found in the Maltese Islands. iv Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 - THE CURRENT STATE OF WIND ENERGY IN MALTA ................................................................... 1 1.1 - CURRENT STATE OF ENERGY IN MALTA ................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 REVIEW OF STUDIES CARRIED OUT TO DATE ............................................................................................................. 2 1.2.1 Mott Macdonald Reports ...................................................................................................................... 2 1.2.2 – Shallow Offshore Wind Assessment and the Sikka l-Bajda Proposal .................................................. 3 1.2.3 - Sikka l-Bajda Stakeholder Report ........................................................................................................ 3 1.3 – RECENT DEVELOPMENTS FOR OFFSHORE WIND IN MALTA ........................................................................................ 4 1.3.1 – Discovery of underwater caves at Sikka l-Bajda ................................................................................. 4 1.3.2 – Liability costs for failure of compliance with EU targets and submission of the Renewable Energy Plan ................................................................................................................................................................. 5 1.4 - SCOPE OF THE THESIS ........................................................................................................................................ 6 CHAPTER 2 – PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS ...................................................... 7 2.1 – WIND RESOURCE IN MALTA .............................................................................................................................. 7 2.1.1 – Estimating the wind resource ............................................................................................................ 7 2.1.2 – Wind Turbine Power Generation and Wind Farm Economics ............................................................. 7 2.2 - BATHYMETRY ................................................................................................................................................ 10 2.2.1 – North-western Malta ........................................................................................................................ 10 2.2.2 – North-eastern Malta ......................................................................................................................... 11 2.2.3 – Eastern Malta and Hurd Bank .......................................................................................................... 12 2.2.4 – Southern Malta ................................................................................................................................. 13 2.2.5 - Gozo .................................................................................................................................................. 14 2.2.6 – Conclusions of the bathymetry ......................................................................................................... 15 2.3 - GEOLOGY ..................................................................................................................................................... 15 2.3.1 - Upper Coralline Limestone Formation ............................................................................................... 18 2.3.2 - Greensand Formation ........................................................................................................................ 19 2.3.3 - Blue Clay Formation .........................................................................................................................

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