Thousands left fuming after third night of power cuts

Thousands were left fuming after spending another night without any electricity.

A number of localities experienced night-long power outages after seven faults were recorded in different zones.

Enemalta said most of the faults developed in underground cables, stating repair works include fault location and trench digging before workers can actually start working on the damaged cable.

“40 Enemalta engineers and technicians together with contracted workers, were dispatched during the night to carry out emergency works on faults that developed in scattered parts of the electricity distribution system, causing power cuts in different zones,” it said. “Enemalta experienced its third consecutive busy night and mobilised its technical resources to reduce the duration of the supply interruptions as much as was possible. In several cases, the supply was returned in a short time through the use of alternative cables.”

It said a record demand of 600MW was registered on Wednesday, but insisted its capacity is of more than 800 MW.

During a technical briefing on Wednesday, Enemalta CEO Jonathan Cardona said recent power outages are largely down to cable faults, and not overloads.

“The faults are not an issue of overloads,” he explained. “Consumption has been increasing, with a new record of 604MW at peak hours. This is the first time that output went beyond 600MW.”

Cardona said that soaring temperatures have caused roads to heat up, and this heat is bringing out certain latent defects in underground cables.

In an interview with MaltaToday Online Editor Karl Azzopardi on Wednesday, Prime Minister Robert Abela said €90 million is being invested by government to strengthen these distribution centres.

He said he will be discussing a possible compensation scheme for businesses affected by power cuts with the relevant ministers.