Maltese Energy Minister Miriam Dalli said in an interview published on Thursday that the energy crisis in Europe should not be considered over, adding that the Maltese government is considering linking to North Africa to ensure a more stable power supply.
"The energy crisis isn’t over, prices remain higher than they were pre-COVID and markets are still very volatile," Dalli told the Euroactiv news portal.
Malta, as a small island state, has its own challenges and, unfortunately, "not all solutions [to the energy crisis] that work for other countries work for islands," the minister said. With the European Union’s decarbonization strategy, the country’s only option is to "go for renewables," however, it cannot rely on cheap onshore solar and wind panels due to lack of space, while floating panels might be too expensive for the island nation.
"We’re analysing the potential of linking to Northern Africa because the opportunity is there," Dalli said.
She added that in 2023, EU countries in the Mediterranean agreed to work towards turning the region into a "green hub," and exchanging power across the sea might be the solution.
The global economic downturn following the COVID-19 pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Russia have led to disruptions in supply chains and spikes in energy prices around the world, plunging the EU into a major energy crisis.
In May 2022, three months after the launch of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, the European Commission developed the REPowerEU plan, aimed at making Europe independent of Russian fossil fuels.