Havvy fuel oil with Miryum Dalli
I'm sorry, Karen, but tonight it's Miryum again. She can't do without me.
I’ve just watched Miriam Dalli interview Henrik Fleischer, Sargas CEO, for a while.
I particularly enjoyed the way she called him ‘Henrik’ repeatedly – you know, as though they’d just been having lunch together with her entire audience. And then, just before she pressed the ‘end call’ button on Skype, she called him Mr Fleischer.
“Mr Fleischer, tenks a lot.”
Thanks a lot. As though she’d just gone into a shop and bought a packet of hair-pins.
Sure, accuse me of picking on the details, but that’s where they say the devil is.
Worse than the havvy fuel oil and the wodz diz and the storridge and the constant inane camera-conscious smile were the sixth-form student scripted questions.
It was damned obvious that she wasn’t playing a blind bit of attention to any of ‘Henrik’s’ answers – hence the inane smile and blank expression – because when she noticed that he’d stopped talking she just looked down at her paper and read off the next question.
PATHETIC.
No wonder they hate Lou Bondi.
I waited until the advertisement break – Labour wine glasses again – was over to see whether I had won my bet with myself that her ‘pennil’ would include Jesmond Mugliett now that Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has got his blinking divorce, worked off his frustrations, and got out of the angry limelight.
I won, and rewarded myself with a mug of builder’s tea and a quick jab at the Off switch.
16 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
haha – pennil
Miriam dalli is fine on mute though :)
I agree. But goes to show that blonde is a state of mind.
Yes, and Franco Debono seems to have noticed that the spotlight is moving away from him again.
Surely when you have a linfa you don’t need a paltry spotlight.
They must be preparing a motion of no confidence in Dr. Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici at the Centru Nazzjonali.
Daphne, your patience and resolve in watching such programmes is nothing short of heroic.
[Daphne – I switched it off, Antoine. It’s not just the politics and the stupidity. It’s the lack of professionalism that eats me up. I television interviewer that goes on air with a list of questions instead of being thoroughly briefed? Who doesn’t know the meaning of ‘leading questions’ and who never picks up on anything that her subject says but just moves to the next question? It makes me desperate.]
I wonder why there is a deafening silence from the government’s side regarding Sargas system. Can anyone from the government side of the bench explain why Sargas system is a no no. I will give my 2c and hope I will not bore you with numbers.
Delimara power station extension will cost 200 million Euros, one fourth of Sargas, its capacity is 144mw and this extention will improve Delimara Power station’s efficiency thus reducing consumption. On the other hand Sargas power station cost 900 million Euros with a capacity of only 100mw. The difference between the two is that Sargas can capture CO2 and therefore one can burn anything.
Let’s do some math.
Eur 900,000,000.00 (Power station cost) divided by 7cents (unit selling price as promised by Sargas) will give us the amount of units Sargas need to produce to break even. (Not including financing company’s capital investments ROCE and buying olives). The amount Sargas need to sell to break even is 12,857,000,000 units.
At full capacity Sargas 100mw power station translate to 2,400,000units daily = 854,400,000 units yearly
Therefore the amount of Eur 900 million worth of units divided by the yearly production. 12,857,000,000units divided by 854,400,000 is 15 years
I don’t want to bore on with numbers however if my calculations are right, it will take 15 years at full capacity for Sargas to break even, and this does not include any expenses including financing capital , buying Biomass and exporting Carbon.
You’re right up to a point, Sargas consider Carbon as a sellable commodity.
They want to adopt the system used in the States, where CO2 is traded for a neat profit.
One minor problem, The US did not ratify Kyoto, whereas the EU is the most aggressive promoter of its principles. What Sargas don’t admit is that pollution and unsustainable depletion of natural resources is a global, not national problem, and no amount of territorial trading is going to exempt them from the EU’s remit.
If we take up this proposal, our public interest will be subjected to a corporation’s private interest. Personally, that is where I draw the line, hopefully Labour will see some sense and do the same.
@Leonard
Unfortunately, the computation of payback cannot be done that way.
You have to deduct the costs of operations and carbon dioxide disposal from the revenues. They represent further “investment” that will need to be made during the years. Besides, you did not compute the payback of the new Delimara, which has a different operating cost structure.
In any case, it is not clear what conclusion you have reached. You can only reach a conclusion when you can compare the two plants.
I switched on to ONE TV after watching Bijografiji about Pawlu Boffa, followed with interest and Ms Dalli started her question “ Now how would you convince me…..”
With all due respect to Ms Dalli and all the ‘journalists’ who are promoting this unneeded and unplanned plant, she’s not qualified to make technical questions.
Maybe she can ask a written technical question but when a doubtful technical detail is included in the answer, she won’t be able to question that detail.
On the contrary it would be taken as fact both by the interviewer and by the TV audience.
Leonard Ellul Bonici, you said you wonder why there is a deafening silence from the government’s side regarding Sargas system.
I think that for the same reason given above, EneMalta experts can’t give a studied answer for this Sargas plant the way figures and concepts are being bandied about leaves everyone breathless.
I’ll give you two examples .
The first one is the price. How much will this Sargas Plant cost – €1000,000,000 like Heinrik Fleischer said in Saviour’s interview , €800,000,000 or €900,000,000 like they said in the press conference at The Westin?
Would we get another discount if they make a Sargas mass meeting on the granaries of Floriana?
I’m writing the many zeros because there are people who think that a billion is one hundred million.
Secondly: what is the cost of getting rid of the captured gases and the two shipments per week of fly ash as now the viewing public is being informed.
As far as I know the plant’s size has been tripled. It’s not 100Mw but some 320Mw. It should have been floating out at sea in 2007, but they brought in the monstrous white elephant floating near the Delimara power station and now it has been dry-docked at Delimara, in no time we will have it installed underground at the Has-Saptan fuel installation!
Technical people won’t join the fray because there could be consequences if they shoot down the Sargas project.
I’m more than sure that if for example Mr Spiteri Gingell enters the Sargas polemic he will be demonised and discredited on the Labour media and MT.
It is perplexing that the Labour Party should so blatantly be canvassing for a prototype power station, at such an enormous cost outlay, without proven feasibility studies,;
They now want us to forget the hassle and waste of parliamentary and Audit General time they are causing with their insinuations of corruption and criticism of what they are calling a wrong prototype plant chosen by goverment.They even went to the extent of inciting the labour councils in the area to cause as much problems as possible, and even going to court with a redress.
What we need to know now how the PL plan to go about the purchas of this plant, either through a direct order for this power power plant or will tailor make a bid package tender to suit only Sargas. Also we want to know if all this will comply with EU tender regulations.
Finally I would like to note the shameful presence of Mr. Mugliette at the canvassing meeting organised this week by Sargas.
First name basis, it’s also a status symbol for Miriam.
“Qeghdin taraw kemm jiena importanti. Naghjattlu b’ismu lil Henrick. Rajtu kemm sirna ta’ gewwa.
Just one question: who actually believes that Sargas’ non-solution is on the national agenda? I can’t expect the government to discuss something which to my (admittedly) limited knowledge is not on the national agenda.
How can the opposition think it can force-feed us its ideas?
To some extent, the Sargas comedy is on the national political agenda, because now that Anglu Farrugia let the cat out of the bag, Labour wants its idea that it can reduce electricity tariffs to remain afloat at all costs.
So they will lure the public with the Sargas bait. I still can’t believe Labour can be serious about its support for a Sargas plant. To me this is a big soap bubble, and I think the soap connection is appropriate.
Henrik Fleischer was quoted as saying that John Dalli was Sargas’ adviser until he became EU Commissioner, which could mean that he was still their adviser when he was a cabinet minister. Jesmond Mugliett openly supported John Dalli for the PN leadership.
Ding dong.