Delimara Onshore Natural Gas Terminal

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Delimara Onshore Natural Gas Terminal is a proposed natural gas import facility in Malta.

Location

The terminal will be on the Delimara peninsula in the same facility as the current Delimara power plant.

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Project Details

• Parent:
• Location: Delimara power plant, Delimara Peninsula, Malta
• Coordinates: 35.831773, 14.556062 (exact)
• Capacity:
• Cost:
• Status: Proposed
• Type: Import
• Start Year:

Background

The terminal will receive natural gas transported from Sicily via the proposed Malta-Italy Gas Pipeline. The terminal will be built on 8,000 square metres of reclaimed sea bed. The new terminal station will be constructed within the existing Delimara power station to limit visual impact. The project is being promoted as a way to increase Malta's natural gas supply security when compared to the existing FSU and regasification system. Once implemented, the gas pipeline will provide a more reliable source to supply natural gas to Malta, eliminating the need for the Delimara FSRU Terminal which was installed in 2017 to supply natural gas to the Delimara power plant. The new terminal facility will be located on the southernmost edge of the site, with the regasification plant boundary wall to the north.

Due to Malta's failure to receive European Union funding support for the Malta-Italy Gas Pipeline, in January 2021 Energy minister Miriam Dalli said that, in order to try again for EU funding, Malta will advance the project as a "hydrogen-ready" pipeline. As a result, the FSRU terminal will have to be retained for longer than expected now due to the failure thus far to source financing for the pipeline.

Environmental Impact

The terminal station will house a range of equipment required for the operation and maintenance of the pipeline. In order to accommodate the additional structures, an area of 8,000 sq.m will need to be reclaimed. This reclaimed land will be used for the terminal plant (6,855 sq.m) and a new breakwater (4,840 sq.m) to shelter the new plant from incoming waves. The rock protection area will have a perimeter of about 230m and a thickness of around 28m. Malta's Energy Information Administration (EIA) warned that excavation work and vibrations may precondition adjacent coastal cliffs to failure, particularly for the Middle Globigerina Limestone rock layer, which quickly deteriorates with weathering. This impact is described as “direct, permanent and will have a local extent, and is considered of major significance”. The construction of the road and new terminal plant will also require excavation of soil and rocks.