GRTU reaches agreement with Government to boost the Renewable Energy Sector

GRTU President Paul Abela and
Renewable Energy Section President Noel Gauci have reached an agreement with
the Minister for Energy and the Conservation of Water, Hon Konrad Mizzi, to
join forces and boost the sector that operates in Photovoltaics in both quality
and sales.

Through this agreement the Ministry will be supporting schemes
earlier launched by GRTU, namely the GRTU APPROVED Certification and the PVPFS
(PV Purchase Facilitation Scheme) to increase the number of families becoming
owners of a safe, renewable energy system. As a first step of the agreed plan
the Ministry and the Malta Resources Authority (MRA) will be sponsoring a
promotion and information campaign through various media, followed by a
specialized fair in October.

These GRTU schemes are aimed
at raising the quality standards in sales methods and installations, make PV
systems affordable to more families and as a result increase sales. Quality is
continuously being monitored by GRTU officials while purchasing is made easy
via a three year loan scheme with no interest or charges for the clients. Some
GRTU APPROVED members market their total system cost as low as €25/month (€900)
thanks to the grant being offered by the MRA, electricity produced during this
3 year period and the PVPFS scheme.

GRTU welcomes the positive
attitude of the Minister and we feel this augurs well for the sector and will
set renewable energy in Malta on the way to become at par with other European
Member States. This is the kind of responsive attitude we wish to see more in
the public service in general where they regard the private sector and their
representatives as partners with whom they can collaborate for the benefit of
everyone.

Another very important issue
GRTU is discussing with the Ministry are the plans for large PV farms with the
aim of achieving the best deals from investors whilst giving all operators the
chance to participate in the supply and installation processes. GRTU is also
proposing that pockets of up to 3kW of these PV farms are made available for
sale to families that do not own roof space where they can have their own PV
system installed, solving a long standing situation of frustration for these
families. GRTU is insisting that given all the limitations we are faced with in
our country such as capability of Enemalta to sustain considerable increase in
feed in tariff payments and suitable rooftops and land availability, prior to
the approval of large projects, MRA together with GRTU should ensure that these
are backed by a plan aimed at creating long term and sustainable green jobs for
all operators and opportunities for Maltese families. GRTU is convinced that
through ongoing dialogue the interests of everyone can be safeguarded.