Power cuts were once again widespread during the night as Enemalta was working to repair 8 high voltage cable faults in different locations, each supplying electricity to thousands of customers.
Early on Friday, the corporation said on its Facebook page that there had been six faults, but in a statement after 8am, the corporation said the faults had been eight.
In its statement, Enemalta said it launched works to restore electricity supply to customers impacted by eight network difficulties registered on Thursday night, as it continued repairing earlier underground cable faults and other damages, in the country’s fourth night of the heatwave, which hit southern Europe this week. Most of the high voltage network disruptions registered on Thursday night have already been resolved, with customers reconnected to the grid through alternative network connections in the same areas within a few hours.
Another supply interruption in parts of Rabat and Mdina was also restored early on Friday morning. Customers impacted by network faults in a localised part of Msida, Vittoriosa, Cospicua, Kalkara and Zabbar will be reconnected to the grid as soon as ongoing repairs are completed today. Workers are also tackling another Friday morning network difficulty causing supply disruptions in another part of Zabbar and part of Marsascala.
Specialised teams of engineers, technicians, cable fault locators and cable jointers, excavation contractors and other workers continued working throughout the night to repair more than six underground cable faults caused by earlier network disturbances. In most cases, when such cable faults are registered, electricity supply is restored through alternative connections supplying the same area before actual cable repairs commence. In other situations, multiple cable faults in the same area may prohibit such reconnection before one or more of the faults are repaired.
To repair underground cables, the exact location of the damaged section of the cables buried beneath road surfaces need to be pinpointed, so that the cable can then be uncovered to replace the damaged section. This process takes several hours, before the repaired cable can be tested and reconnected, so that it can continue to be used to provide electricity to customers. During the last four nights, Enemalta has been increasing its technical and customer support teams to respond to network difficulties in the shortest time possible, while helping customers who seek assistance with difficulties affecting individual services.
Meanwhile, the Company is collaborating with the Servizz.Gov helpline 153, which is now taking calls requesting assistance on power cuts as well, in addition to the existing Enemalta helpline 80002224. During a press briefing on Thursday afternoon, Enemalta Chairman Ryan Fava and Enemalta CEO Jonathan Cardona confirmed that as temperatures continued to rise, on Thursday Enemalta registered a peak demand of 624 megawatts, the second record demand for the Maltese Islands in two days.
The country has a total electricity capacity of 830 megawatts. 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. Live updates on electricity supply disruptions are also available on the Company’s website enemalta.com.mt.
In most cases, electricity supply was restored through alternative connections supplying the same area before actual cable repairs commence. In other situations, multiple cable faults in the same area may prohibit such reconnection before one or more of the faults are repaired, Enemalta said.
“To repair underground cables, our engineers and technicians use specialised equipment that pinpoints the location of the fault. This reduces the need to excavate longer stretches of road surface,” Enemalta said.
After securing the necessary emergency road works permits and after other utility companies mark their buried infrastructure in the same road, excavation contractors move in to dig the road at the pinpointed location and expose the buried cable. Cable jointers can then start replacing the damaged section with a new stretch of cable. Once the repaired cable is tested, it can continue to be used to provide electricity to our customers, Enemalta said.
It has been a nightmare of a week for the energy-provider, as for four nights in a row multiple power faults were reported.
Nine power faults were reported on Wednesday night as Malta hit a new peak for electricity demand.
Enemalta said that the current heat wave affecting all of the Mediterranean is the main cause of the power cuts. The Met Office is forecasting temperatures to remain above 40 degrees celsius until at least the middle of next week.