The PL government closed the Marsa power station and eliminated polluting fuel use at Delimara.
Both halves documented. Marsa Power Station was permanently decommissioned in March 2015 under the Muscat Labour administration after decades of heavy-fuel-oil generation. Delimara was converted from heavy fuel oil to LNG in March 2017 under the same administration, eliminating HFO-fired generation. Ian Borg's framing matches the operational record exactly.
Both halves documented. Marsa Power Station was permanently decommissioned in March 2015 under the Muscat Labour administration after decades of heavy-fuel-oil generation. Delimara was converted from heavy fuel oil to LNG in March 2017 under the same administration, eliminating HFO-fired generation. Ian Borg's framing matches the operational record exactly.
We tested Borg's claim against Enemalta's Marsa decommissioning record, the Electrogas Delimara LNG commissioning record, Energy and Water Agency policy documentation, European Environment Agency air-quality monitoring, the PL 2013 manifesto energy chapter, and contemporary Times of Malta coverage. The methodological question is whether the two operational events — Marsa's permanent closure and the elimination of HFO firing at Delimara — are documented in primary sources under the Muscat PL administration.
Verdict lands at True because Marsa was permanently decommissioned in March 2015 and Delimara was converted from heavy fuel oil to LNG-fired CCGT generation in March 2017, with the EEA air-quality data showing the SO₂ and particulate step-change that follows from HFO retirement. The deep-dive lays out the timeline, the manifesto-delivery linkage, and the connected air-quality outcomes; this editorial note is methodology only.
Did PL really close Marsa power station and eliminate polluting Delimara fuel
Ian Borg's claim breaks into two specific events from the early Muscat administration: the closure of Marsa Power Station and the elimination of heavy-fuel-oil generation at Delimara. Both are testable directly against Enemalta, Energy and Water Agency, and Maltese press records — and both happened.
Marsa Power Station — decommissioned March 2015
The Marsa Power Station had operated since the early 20th century as Malta's main heavy-fuel-oil (HFO) generation site. By the early 2010s it was a major source of SO₂, particulate and NOx emissions affecting the central Maltese conurbation. PL's 2013 manifesto committed to closing Marsa once replacement gas-fired generation was online. The plant was permanently decommissioned in March 2015 after the broader gas-conversion plan reached the point where replacement capacity was secured.
This is documentary fact in Enemalta releases, parliamentary record, and contemporaneous Maltese press coverage from 2015.
Delimara — LNG conversion March 2017
Delimara Power Station had operated on heavy fuel oil as Malta's principal post-Marsa generation site. In March 2017 the Electrogas LNG-fired combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant was commissioned, retiring the HFO-fired component of Delimara and replacing it with LNG-fired generation supplied by the Armada LNG Mediterrana FSU moored at Marsaxlokk.
The European Environment Agency's air-quality monitoring records the step-change clearly: SO₂ at Maltese monitoring stations dropped sharply post-March 2017, from approximately 22 µg/m³ to roughly 6 µg/m³ and onwards to today's ~2 µg/m³ (documented in our companion fact-check #27). That step-change is precisely what 'elimination of polluting fuel use at Delimara' looks like in air-quality data.
What this fact-check does not address
Two adjacent questions are separate from this one and not adjudicated here:
- The Vitals/Steward hospital concession structured alongside the Electrogas project — covered in companion fact-check #28.
- The continued presence of the floating LNG tanker at Marsaxlokk — the 2013 framing presented it as transitional pending a Sicily-Malta gas pipeline; the pipeline was suspended in 2025; covered in companion fact-check #282.
Both are real and material — but neither contradicts the narrow factual claim that Marsa was closed and Delimara's HFO-fired generation retired. Those two specific events happened, on the dates stated, under the PL administration.
So is the claim accurate?
Yes. Marsa Power Station was decommissioned in March 2015. Delimara's heavy-fuel-oil generation was retired and replaced with LNG-fired CCGT in March 2017. Both are documented in Enemalta, Energy and Water Agency and Maltese press records; the air-quality step-change is independently confirmed in European Environment Agency monitoring data.
Verdict: True.