Interconnector blamed again for nationwide power cut

Enemalta yesterday once again blamed the interconnector for a major power cut that struck at around 10am.

The Malta Independent received reports of a power cut from residents in Birżebbuġa, Dingli, Qormi, Ħal Far, Żebbuġ, Attard, Kirkop, Swieqi, Paola, Għargħur, St Julian’s, Sliema, Naxxar, Marsaxlokk and Birkirkara, among other areas. Some areas in Gozo, including Xagħra, Victoria and Żebbuġ, were also hit by the power cut.

Enemalta later said it had restored supply to customers within 50 minutes.

The company said it registered a sudden reduction in capacity to the national grid at around 10am. 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 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. 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 inquiries into the cause of the incident are now underway, Enemalta said.

It is not the first time that the interconnector linking Malta to Ragusa was blamed for a widespread power cut.

On 6 February, flooding in Ragusa was blamed for a nationwide power cut. On 16 January, the interconnector was also to blame for Enemalta for an overnight power cut.