AFRY supporting Malta in their offshore renewable energy expansion

AFRY’s work for the state-owned company Interconnect Malta (ICM) is supporting the process of defining and awarding offshore renewables concessions in Malta’s exclusive economic zones in the Mediterranean Sea.

The process of awarding offshore renewables concessions ensures that the development of clean energy sources is carried out in a well-regulated, sustainable, and beneficial manner, addressing energy needs, environmental concerns, economic growth, and climate change mitigation. The work will be delivered by AFRY Management Consulting together with AFRY’s Energy engineering team, and will cover two complementary aspects: Technical and Commercial.

The technical tasks are helping the Maltese government to identify geographical areas, technologies, impacts on the network and development processes, to have operational offshore renewables farms in coming years. The commercial tasks will allow the Maltese government to evaluate the relationship between risk versus return and prices, enabling informed business decisions and ensuring optimal resource allocation as well as alignment with long-term objectives.

AFRY’s strong international team of experts will provide ICM several services along the whole offshore renewables value chain, from engineering to strategy, commercial and financial aspects.

“At AFRY, we are fortunate to have experts that cover all aspects of energy-related projects, providing us with a 360-degree view of our client projects that allows us to quickly gain an understanding of the optimal way forward. I am pleased that we can contribute to this exciting project with ICM and the Maltese Government and be part of Malta’s transition towards a clean energy future” says Bülent Mutlu, Head of the Expertise Cluster Power & Heat Generation at AFRY Management Consulting.

“We take pride in bringing our interdisciplinary skills to the forefront to support Malta’s transition towards sustainability. Our holistic approach, encompassing technical and commercial expertise, positions us as a valuable partner in this strategic project. It’s noteworthy that our recent acquisition of BLIX Consulting has significantly bolstered our offshore wind competencies with its unique and specialised expertise, further empowering us to play a pivotal role in Malta’s green energy transition”, says Peter Plug, VP and Global Head of Renewable Energy at AFRY.

“Malta is working to attain its forward-looking ambition to substantially increase the share of renewables in its energy mix, for increased environmental sustainability and energy security. In this regard, the Maltese Government is focusing on developing its offshore (floating) renewable potential, through the establishment of the necessary administrative and regulatory frameworks, enabling future deployment of larger-scale energy projects. In January 2021, Malta joined other EU member states in a non-binding agreement for the deployment of offshore renewables in the South and West offshore grid priority corridor, with our country aspiring to develop offshore floating clean energy installations in Malta's economic zones. We look forward to continue empowering the development of Malta’s renewable energy sector,” says Ismail D’Amato, CEO of Interconnect Malta (ICM).

Established in 2021, Interconnect Malta Ltd (ICM) is a government-owned company under the responsibility of the Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Enterprise. It is entrusted with the development of major energy infrastructure projects, including Interconnector 2, the second electricity HVAC Cable link between Malta and Italy, the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) project at Marsa and Delimara, offshore renewables and the Melita TransGas Hydrogen-Ready Pipeline, which has been identified as a Project of Common Interest (5.19) by the European Union.