The topic of energy efficiency and renewable energy in large-scale companies in Europe continues to take centre stage, with gas prices already increasing across the continent throughout 2021, a trend that continued since the war began in Ukraine in late February 2022.

And, while the situation in Malta has seen electricity prices remain unchanged thanks to a Government gas supply agreement with Azerbaijan’s SOCAR which saw the price of Liquified Natural Gas frozen for seven years, this agreement expired last month.

The Government has pledged to freeze energy prices this year, however after two years of providing pandemic-related support, and uncertainty as to how long Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will persist, businesses are taking the discussion of energy efficiency and renewable energy all the more seriously. Beyond the obvious environmental benefits, it is becoming all the more urgent for companies to keep a close eye on their costs.

“This current situation [geopolitical conflict] has stimulated a further push for renewable energy called REPowerEU, a joint European action for more affordable, secure and sustainable energy to reduce dependence of Europe on Russian gas over and above the ongoing Green Deal for climate mitigation,” explains Patrick Spiteri Staines, Managing Director of T4B Services ltd, a Malta-based company servicing the building, engineering and manufacturing sectors that also specialises in energy efficiency audits.

 “Thus, a massive drive to increase further renewable energy sources in the EU is underway. This, combined with a greater push on energy efficiency will help EU countries become more independent on external energy and reduce their energy risk,” he says in an interview with WhosWho.mt.

“The EU Commission has called for full implementation of the Fit for 55 proposals to boost energy efficiency, which would lower gas consumption by 30 per cent by 2030. In generation, the Commission advocates for more solar and wind power. To facilitate this a ‘Recommendation on fast permitting for renewable energy projects’ will be published shortly by the Commission.”

Turning to the issue of high energy costs in Europe, he said the effect of the EU’s proposals on energy efficiency “will not be immediate” as renewable energy sources are generally more expensive than fossil fuel-fired energy generation, “thus short-term costs will be higher but long-term this will settle”.

He says that renewable energy costs will reduce due to economies of scale, with projections pointing to their costs to equalling fossil fuels after 2030.

Energy undoubtedly underpins all economic development. With calls for limiting fossil fuels as a source of energy, from an environmental standpoint and also due to recent events, does this mean that economic development will be negatively impacted?

“It is precisely to avoid any negative impact that energy efficiency measures need to be in the forefront of enterprises investment priorities,” Ing Spiteri Staines affirms.

“In doing this, companies are investing in their economic and environmental sustainability, otherwise the impact of increasing prices will erode profitability and may even cause companies to close down due to high energy costs as has already happened in some countries in Europe.

“The effect of energy costs is widespread and can be dramatic therefore companies need to invest heavily in energy efficiency and renewable energy to guarantee their survival in these turbulent times.”

With the importance of energy efficiency duly highlighted, we ask the Managing Director what some of the leading methods of energy conservation are nowadays, that are relevant to Malta-based enterprises.

“Energy saving measures can take many forms, but of prime importance is knowing where you are using energy within your company.

“This will allow a focus on the more advantageous saving solutions, which could be replacement of old equipment with more efficient equipment, retrofitting solutions on existing equipment or even improvements on methods of operation.”

Providing examples of where many Maltese businesses utilise most of their energy, he points towards cooling systems.

“Cooling is a main use of energy in Malta, so solutions such as retrofitting adiabatic cooling like Smartcooling on chillers is a good example.

“Use of solar thermal solutions to replace or aid hot water boilers is also another viable solution reducing the direct use of fossil fuels and lowering energy running costs resulting in better sustainability.”

At a Malta Chamber panel discussion in December 2021, the engineer stated that the company believes energy efficiency and renewables should be a major player and would help Malta become more sustainable economically and environmentally. Asked if he still holds the same view, Mr Spiteri Staines describes energy efficiency and using renewable sources as “the most obvious path for Malta to increase its sustainability.”

“This is especially true for Maltese industries who are high energy consumers and will need to be lean in their use of energy, as direct energy costs are viewed to increase in the future.

“In addition, by generating as much of their energy footprint from renewables they are also helping fight climate change. This is also true at national level but also at company level. Any possible renewable energy generation on site needs to be investigated as this will provide long term stability on energy costs or at least mitigate some of the predicted increases.”

And, as the discussion turns once again to the possibility of higher energy costs on the island, beyond the Government’s promises of freezing prices this year, Ing Spiteri Staines asserts that “we cannot hope to be forever shielded from the dramatic increases we are seeing around us, especially as most of our energy is imported.”

“It is therefore paramount that companies’ asses their current Energy use and make plans to immediately invest in Energy Saving measures. T4B can help is this exercise and also supply the necessary solutions to allow companies to lower their Energy use and become more sustainable in the future. We can supply solutions for chillers, supplementary heating using solar thermal, PV and PVT energy generation, smart lighting solutions, high efficiency compressors, thermal Insulation.”