Enemalta registered a new all-time national electricity peak load of 438 megawatts on Wednesday afternoon. Peak electricity grid load during the same month last year stood at 381 megawatts.

It said that the previous highest peak ever registered in the Maltese Islands was on 23rd July 2007, when 434 megawatts were fed to the grid to meet customers’ demand.

Electricity demand is expected to continue increasing in the coming weeks as the summer heat persists. In spite of the increase in demand, Enemalta said that it still maintains an adequate level of spare capacity to ensure security of supply in the Maltese Islands.

The current load levels are also the highest registered since the Marsa Power Station was shut down and put on cold standby earlier this year, it said.

Enemalta added that it is taking several measures to make sure that its electricity generation and distribution infrastructures are well prepared for this sudden rise in demand. “Additional employees are being deployed to provide immediate response to customers affected by network faults or other supply disruptions.”

“Workers are monitoring the impact of the rising temperatures on the generation and distribution equipment at the Delimara Power Station and other locations. Where necessary, they are making adjustments to optimise their operation. At night, as the demand drops, technicians and engineers are carrying out additional maintenance works to prepare the generation plants for the next day’s peaks,” Enemalta said.

Enemalta Chairman Ing. Fredrick Azzopardi thanked all the Company’s employees who are working together to provide the required services and to assist customers when supply is disrupted.

“We are aware that some parts of the distribution network require additional investment to provide an improved level of supply reliability and flexibility. Last year, we launched a long-term distribution network reinforcement plan, including the commissioning of four new distribution centres, the upgrading and enlargement of a number of other distribution centres as well as an increase in connection configurations between different nodes of the electricity grid,” he explained.

“Two of the new distribution centres, which are already at an advanced stage, are located at St Andrew’s and Manoel Island, to consolidate the Company’s services in nearby areas, including Sliema, St. Julian’s, Ta’ Xbiex, San Gwann and Msida.”

In the meantime, Enemalta said that it is also working on a major transformation of its electricity distribution operations, to increase the number of technical teams capable of providing a quicker response to customers’ requests for assistance.

“Several employees are completing an intensive training programme, and are set to join the existing technical teams within a few weeks.”

For assistance, customers are encouraged to contact the Enemalta Customer Care team on 80072224 or customercare.em@enemalta.com.mt.

More information about Enemalta is available on www.enemalta.com.mt.

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