Update below with Enemalta statement: A power cut hit many areas in Malta and parts of Gozo this morning. Power was lost at around 10am.

Enemalta has said that their technicians are working to find the cause of the problem, with reports that power in some parts of Malta is now being restored.

Statement from Enemalta: “Supply swiftly restored following technical difficulty”

Enemalta has said in a statement that it restored supply to customers affected by Tuesday morning’s technical difficulty within 50 minutes.

The Company said that it registered a sudden reduction in capacity to the national grid at around 10:00am.

“Electricity supply to several localities was immediately interrupted through the automatic shedding procedures to balance the network load and avoid a total shutdown of the system. Capacity was lost after the Malta-Italy Interconnector transformers tripped due to a technical difficulty during a scheduled maintenance operation at Enemalta’s terminal station at Ragusa.”

Within a few minutes, Enemalta said that it dispatched additional capacity from its emergency plants at Delimara, from the gas-powered engines of the Delimara 3 plant (Delimara 3 Power Generation Ltd) and from the Delimara 4 CCGT plant (Electrogas Malta Ltd), which is currently undergoing operational testing ahead of final commissioning.

“Through this capacity, electricity supply to most customers was resupplied within a few minutes. Most areas affected were reconnected to the grid in less than 30 minutes. The network was re-energised progressively to minimise the risk of further difficulties. Within 50 minutes all services were restored,” said Enemalta.

It added that, “electricity supply could be restored swiftly since Enemalta now has several quick-start electricity generation sources available in its energy mix. The additional generation capacity from the Delimara 3 and Delimara 4 gas-fired plants was made available to Enemalta as soon as they were dispatched to provide for the load previously supplied through the Interconnector.”

Further enquiries into the cause of the incident are now underway.

Enemalta said that it would like to thank its employees for restoring supply to all customers in the shortest time possible. Whilst regretting any inconvenience caused, it also thanked its customers for their cooperation during this emergency.

The Company said that it reiterates its “commitment to continue working to secure a diversified mix of clean, reliable and efficient electricity generation sources and to consolidate the national electricity grid to further reduce the risk and duration of service interruptions to its customers.”

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