Update: Gozo, together with large parts of Malta were hit by a power cut last night, Power was lost in Gozo just after 1am, and was restored by around 3am. Enemalta has said in a statement that engineers restored electricity supply to all customers within 153 minutes after several localities, were left without supply when electricity through the Malta-Italy Interconnector was interrupted without notice due to severe weather conditions in Sicily.

It said that electricity supply through the Interconnector was interrupted at 1.06am by the Italian network operator when parts of the electricity grid in Sicily, including the link to the Interconnector at Ragusa, were shed to protect the Italian outdoor high voltage network infrastructure from storm damage.

“At the time, electricity supply to customers in Malta was being provided through the Interconnector and the Delimara 1 plant at Marsaxlokk. The automatic protection systems immediately shed parts of the network in Malta to avoid a nationwide blackout. Soon after, the Delimara Power Station engineers and operators started increasing local generation to restore the required electricity supply. All customers were reconnected to the grid by 3.39am,” Enemalta said.

In the meantime, as soon as the Italian authorities gave Enemalta the go-ahead to re-use the Interconnector, it was once again synchronised to the Maltese grid so that electricity import could resume.

The Company said that its engineers confirmed that there were no malfunctions or faults in the Malta-Italy Interconnector. “It switched off automatically as soon as supply from Sicily was disrupted and was immediately ready to be remotely re-synchronised to be re-used as soon as Enemalta was given approval to do so.”

Further investigations into the incident are underway in collaboration with the Italian network operator.

Whilst regretting any inconvenience to its customers, Enemalta said that it reiterates its commitment “to continue the implementation of its plan for a diversified, cleaner energy generation mix that provides increased security of supply and is less reliant on large single sources of electricity.”

In Malta, the areas affected included Birkirkara, Mellieha, Gzira, St Julian’s Sliema, San Gwann, Gharghur, Naxxar, Mosta, Tarxien.

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