Enemalta yesterday registered the highest ever energy load as temperatures remained high but a company spokesperson said that the power cuts on Tuesday and Wednesday night were not a result of overload.
“Despite reaching the highest peak of energy consumption yesterday night Enemalta’s output capacity is still significantly higher. This was not a case of overload,” the spokesperson said.
Enemalta registered a load of 438 Megawatts on Wednesday night, surpassing the previous record of 434 MW reached in July 2007. Consumption jumped up by some 13% in the space of a few days. In July last year, the peak load was significantly lower than this year at 381MW. The spokesperson said Enemalta makes sure to have the necessary capacity to provide for this level of demand, including an adequate level of spare capacity.
On Tuesday night several localities in the south lost power at around 1.15am. Power was restored about an hour and a half later. The Enemalta spokesperson said the power cut was a result of a cable fault which, in turn, affected a distribution centre.
Many took to Facebook the following morning, complaining that they lost a night's sleep because of the unbearable heat. Last night a number of power cuts were reported in localities including Birkirkara, Swieqi and Ibrag, but Enemalta said these were more localized and power was lost on a “much smaller scale” than the night before.
The spokesperson explained that Enemalta workers rush out to repair any damages that occur at all hours but some faults, like underground cable damage, may take some time to repair. “It is a question of flexibility. With the current distribution system it is not always possible to reroute electricity from another substation when a fault occurs. That is why we are investing in the system. We will be in a better position to reroute energy from another source until the damage is repaired.”
As part of its upgrading of the distribution system, Enemalta is developing four new distribution centres and increasing the number of connection configurations between different nodes of the electricity grid.
The company is currently also laying a number of new high tension underground cables to facilitate the provision of supply through alternative channels in the eventuality of a breakdown in other parts of the distribution system. “In the meantime, Enemalta is also carrying out a major transformation of its electricity distribution operations, to increase the number of technical teams capable of providing a quicker response to customers’ requests for assistance, as well as in cases of emergency.”