Electricity restored after nationwide cut

A nation-wide black out occurred last night, after a number of generating units tripped during a maintenance operation, disrupting electricity supply for several hours. 

The power cut struck shortly after 2am, and power was restored to almost all locations by 6.30am.

“During a switching operation in order to carry out planned maintenance on transformers at Delimara Power Station, a number of generating units tripped.  The load shedding system automatically attempted to stabilize the frequency however, due to the relatively low load at this time of night, this resulted in a frequency fluctuation that caused other generating units to trip. This resulted in a cascading fault that switched the Delimara and Marsa power stations off the grid,” an Enemalta spokesperson explained.

The corporation said its technicians and engineers worked throughout the night to restore power supply to all areas of Malta and Gozo, by restarting generating units and ‘re-energise’ the system.

Electricity supply to strategic locations, such as the Mater Dei Hospital area, was restored soon after. Most localities in the southern part of Malta were reconnected to the grid by 04.30am.

Enemalta apologized for any inconvenience caused and reaffirmed its commitment to the provision of reliable and efficient services as required by its domestic and commercial customers.