INTERCONNECT MALTA: An Island Builds Bridges

Malta has 316 square kilometres to work with, no land border, and a single ageing cable linking it to mainland Europe. On paper, that combination reads like a constraint. In practice, it has pushed the island into becoming one of the more inventive small-state energy operators in Europe, running three major infrastructure campaigns at once: a second and third electrical link to Sicily, a hydrogen-ready gas pipeline, and a serious bid to import renewable power directly from North Africa. The company delivering all of it is Interconnect Malta, a wholly government-owned entity that answers to the Ministry for Energy, the Environment and the Regeneration of the Grand Harbour.

“Malta’s success has always depended on our ability to transform and to innovate, and nowhere is this more vital than in the way we power our future,” says Energy Minister Dr Miriam Dalli. “In recent years, we spearheaded a bold and ambitious transformation of Malta’s energy landscape. This shift is our declaration of intent to embrace the future, invest in ambitious projects, and place people at the very heart of our energy transition.”

ICM was established in 2018 as Melita TransGas, taking on its current identity in 2021 as its mandate widened beyond gas into electricity interconnection, offshore renewables and battery storage. That expansion tracks Malta’s own realisation that ending its energy isolation would take more than one cable. The island currently draws power through a single interconnector, commissioned in 2015, that leaves the national grid exposed to a single point of failure. Fixing that exposure has become ICM’s full-time occupation.

CROSSING TO SICILY

The most advanced of those projects is the second Malta-Sicily interconnector, IC2, and the summer of 2026 delivered its defining moment. In June, Nexans completed manufacturing and testing of the 103km high-voltage subsea cable at its Charleston facility in the United States, a process that took over a year and included producing the fibre optic core in Norway before drawing, insulating and armouring the copper conductors for subsea duty.

“The successful manufacturing and testing of the subsea cable, together with the completion of preparatory offshore works, is another important step that helps us advance to the installation phase,” Dalli said as the milestone was confirmed. “The IC2 project is a strategic investment aimed at enhancing Malta’s electricity interconnection with mainland Europe, increasing resilience, supporting the integration of renewable energy, and contributing to the country’s long-term energy transition goals.”

Getting the cable ready was only half the challenge. ICM Divisional Manager Joseph Vassallo pointed to the coordination behind it. “We are proud to collaborate with leading international partners to deliver infrastructure that strengthens Malta’s energy security. The completion of manufacturing and successful comprehensive testing of the 103km subsea cable at Nexans’ Charleston facility represent a major technical and logistical achievement for the IC2 project,” he said. That achievement landed alongside two others: completion of a marine route clearance campaign to clear the installation corridor of obstructions, and the launch of Nexans Electra, the specialist cable-laying vessel that will carry out the installation. Onshore, underground drilling has already begun to connect the cable from land to sea, while the auto-transformer and shunt reactors needed to bring the link into service have been delivered on site.

Dalli frames IC2 as more than a backup line. “The IC2 project builds on the experience of the first Malta-Sicily interconnector, commissioned in 2015 and delivered by Nexans. The second interconnector will be routed at a safe distance from the existing cable to enhance resilience and reduce the risk of simultaneous disruption,” she says. “Once operational, the project will significantly reinforce Malta’s electricity system by providing redundancy, improving reliability, and supporting long-term demand growth. It is a key component of Malta’s strategy to achieve its 2030 climate and energy targets and longer-term decarbonisation objectives.”

At around €300 million, with €261 million secured through ERDF funding, IC2 has been recognised as an Operation of Strategic Importance under the EU’s 2021-2027 programme. Dalli is clear about the long-term. “The second interconnector is a strategic investment in our future. This project will double our country’s interconnection capacity and will also strengthen our ability to accommodate more renewable energy in our energy mix. It is an important pillar in our ambitious plan to continue increasing renewable energy, both onshore and offshore, while further strengthening resilience and flexibility in this sector in our country.”

LOOKING SOUTH 

If IC2 is about strength for now, ICM’s North Africa initiative is about ambition for the future. In April, the government issued a Preliminary Market Consultation to test appetite for a dedicated submarine cable capable of importing 0.8 terawatt-hours of renewable electricity a year, drawn from North Africa’s solar and wind resources, enough to cover roughly a quarter of Malta’s current electricity demand. The response was strong enough that ICM extended the submission window by 10 weeks to let bidders prepare fuller proposals. ICM Chairman Perit Godwin Agius set out the scale of the ambition at the time.

“The proposed project explores the feasibility of a dedicated submarine power cable to import 0.8 terawatt-hours of renewable energy annually by tapping into the vast renewable resources of North Africa, satisfying approximately 25% of the nation’s electricity demand based on 2025 consumption levels, significantly reducing Malta’s carbon footprint,” he said.

By August, four submissions had landed, from consortia combining local and international expertise across energy, infrastructure and engineering. “Malta’s Energy Vision sets out a clear direction for a power system that is increasingly secure, sustainable, diversified and centred around the long-term interests of Maltese families and businesses. Exploring the potential of renewable energy connections with North Africa forms part of this vision and of our ambition to strengthen cooperation across the Mediterranean,” Dalli said. “The four submissions demonstrate that there is tangible market interest in this opportunity. They will now be assessed carefully so that any future decisions are based on robust technical and economic evidence.”

ICM Divisional Manager Alexandra Meli described what happens next: “Our next step is to undertake a detailed and structured assessment of the different generation arrangements, transmission infrastructure, delivery models, indicative costs, implementation timelines and technical risks.” If the model proves viable, Malta intends to underwrite the project through a two-way Contract for Difference running for 25 years, a structure designed to protect the investment and, ultimately, the price consumers pay.

CATCHING THE WIND 

The third front sits offshore, in Malta’s own exclusive economic zone. With no room left on land for large-scale solar or wind, the government has set a non-binding target of 350 megawatts of offshore renewable capacity by 2050, and ICM is now laying the groundwork for phase one: a floating wind farm expected to reach around 300 megawatts, enough to supply roughly a quarter of the island’s electricity needs. In April, ICM issued a €3.6 million tender to collect two years of wind, wave and environmental data across two candidate sites, each around 100 square kilometres, positioned beyond the 12 nautical mile line to avoid conflict with fisheries, tourism and shipping.

“The floating offshore wind project is an integral part of Malta’s broader energy strategy for the coming years and is one of several key initiatives we are adopting, aimed at supporting the transition to a sustainable generation mix,” Dalli says.

ICM manager Christian Spiteri explained why real measurements matter more than modelling alone. “These sites were selected based on technological feasibility, as well as environmental and anthropogenic considerations. Developers will retain the flexibility to select the preferred site,” he said, describing buoy-mounted LiDAR instruments that will track wind speed and direction with high precision over a full two-year seasonal cycle. That data, layered onto earlier seabed and bathymetry surveys, is designed to convert what is currently a modelled estimate into a bankable proposition for developers, the same standard of technical rigour ICM has applied to IC2 and the North Africa link.

Taken together, the three projects describe a country treating its geography as leverage rather than limitation. A nation with no spare land is building an offshore wind farm; an island with a single point of failure is doubling, then tripling, its connections to Europe; a state on the edge of the EU is positioning itself as the transit point between two continents’ worth of renewable power. None of that happens by accident, and it depends on sustained, deliberate investment rather than any single breakthrough. What ICM’s current run of milestones shows is that a small nation, treated seriously and funded consistently, can build infrastructure that punches well above its size, and in doing so, offer larger neighbours a working model for what an energy transition looks like when there is no room left to get it wrong.