Malta is not active in its quest for Green hydrogen

Floating technologies make it possible to develop projects farther offshore while reducing visual and environmental impacts on coastal areas. This supports Malta’s ambitions under the EU Green Deal, REPowerEU, and updated NECP/LCDS targets (for example aiming for higher renewable shares toward 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050).

It also drives a “blue economy” with jobs, investment, and energy diversification. Launched around late 2024/early 2025 for Malta’s inaugural floating wind farm (target ~280–320 MW, reference 300 MW) beyond 12 nautical miles in the future EEZ. It uses a competitive dialogue process: Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ), dialogue, and best and final offer. Three applications were submitted by mid-2025 (consortia like Code Zero (a Malta applicant), Atlas Med. Wind (an Italian applicant), and MCKEDRIK Sole Member Ltd (a Greece-based sole applicant).

A typical large offshore Trapani application in the Straits of Sicily is the Med. Wind (Renexia). It is an ambitious 2.8 GW floating project (~190 turbines, up to 18 MW each from Mingyang). As can be expected a useful analysis is to indicate the future growth of offshore renewable (wind and panels) power in the Mediterranean. As can be expected the speed of growth will be driven by two main factors such as:

a) The cost competitiveness of energy production by the offshore wind industry; and

b) The level of policy support for the development of renewable energy. At no stage does the consultation document issued by Malta mention the generation and use of green Hydrogen using electrolysis. The possibility of looking at solar PV technology offshore is also an area of interest as a considerable number of installation projects using floating photovoltaic systems (FPVs) technology can potentially be operated in water bodies such as shallow seas, such as Hurd’s Bank, lakes and dams/reservoirs. However, deployment of FPVs offshore is still limited because of the existing characteristics of marine/sea environments which are different from onshore conditions, such as wind loads and wave loads. These challenges lead to higher costs than projects in the North Sea, particularly when compared with the central Mediterranean, due to moderate wind conditions, deep waters, supply chain limitations, and grid connection constraints.

A crowded sea (fishing, shipping, environment) in the Mediterranean creates fresh problems in locating the wind farm sites. All applications face resistance not to upset marine protected areas, biodiversity (seabirds, Posidonia), and multi-use conflicts. The good news for investors is that the Malta government has established a one-stop-shop that will act as a single point of reference for project developers to be guided through the permitting process necessary to construct and operate the offshore project. A single administrative unit will be responsible for this procedure, and it may act independently or involve other administrative authorities in the process.

This design increases the transparency of the process and ultimately saves time and resources. The inference is that the shallow waters around Hurd’s Bank, which cover an area three times the size of Malta, could logically be utilised more extensively. The government therefore prefers that the chosen developer is responsible for all planning exercises, project developments and actual implementation. There will be an open bid session and investors chosen based on technical and financial competence and the value of the option fee proposed.

The government expects that the cost of connection with the transmission to the grid has to be financed by the chosen developer. All this is in the light of the European Green deal, which is a transformative agenda to combine policies necessary to tackle climate change, to reverse biodiversity loss, and eliminate pollution by moving to a circular economy. Once there, the government pledged to reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

Another potential is to develop a steady supply of green hydrogen. Readers may ask, how can industrial quantities of green hydrogen be generated? The straightforward answer is through electrolysis, where surplus renewable electricity is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Hydrogen is collected and stored in pressured canisters. It is used primarily in industry (in the case of Malta to run power stations or propel ships), while oxygen is released as a by-product for export. For example, the University of Malta’s HydroGenEration project (funded by the Energy and Water Agency) is a desk-based study on integrating floating wind with hydro-pneumatic energy storage and offshore green hydrogen production.

The storage potential of hydrogen is particularly beneficial for power grids, as it allows for renewable energy to be kept not only in large quantities but any excess to requirements can also be exported to Europe.

In conclusion, due to scale, land, and water constraints, Malta considers domestic green hydrogen production to be a challenging prospect. Instead, it is pursuing a hydrogen-ready gas pipeline to Sicily through Melita TransGas, enabling the potential import of renewable hydrogen or hydrogen blends with bi-directional capability.

George M. Mangion is a senior partner at PKF Malta