Enemalta said Saturday afternoon that it is racing against time to repair damages to its underground high voltage cable network across Malta and Gozo, as the high temperatures registered this week continue to put pressure on the country’s electricity infrastructure.
Since Monday, the Company said registered 52 underground high voltage cable faults in Malta and another eight in Gozo. Enemalta engineers and technicians have already repaired more than half of them. Several teams are working round the clock to repair all remaining faults as soon as possible. In most cases, electricity supply to customers affected by these cable faults would have already been provided through alternative cable connections in the same area.
In other network difficulties, especially when they are in the same area of a previous fault, such supply restoration may not be possible until the damaged cables are repaired. Electricity in parts of Dingli, Rabat, Mdina, Kalkara and Zabbar in Malta and Zebbug, Marsalforn, Xaghra and Nadur in Gozo will be restored as soon as ongoing cable repairs are completed, in coming hours.
In the Rabat and Dingli areas, four different faults in two days have almost isolated these localities from the rest of the grid, making restoration of supply to customers in the area even more difficult, the company said.
Enemalta Chairman, Ing Ryan Fava noted that the Company is continuing to increase its resources to speed up repairs, without putting workers’ safety at risk.
“With such an unprecedented number of cable faults, the network becomes less resilient to other network disturbances. Therefore we are making sure to repair as Press Release Communications Office, Central Administration Building, Church Wharf, Marsa MRS 1571, Malta many of these cables as quickly as possible, to restore the network’s flexibility and be in a better position to respond to network difficulties in a shorter timeframe. Works will continue Saturday night and on Sunday, until all cables are tested and energised,” Ing Fava said.
Enemalta is using its SMS notification service to keep subscribed customers updated on faults and repairs affecting their electricity supply. The public can subscribe to this service by sending an SMS with the account holder’s ID Card number, on 79052492