Saturday brought two important announcements on Malta's electricity infrastructure. One concerned the progress being made on the second electricity interconnector with Sicily; the other concerned the beginning of the procurement process for two new submarine cables linking Malta and Gozo.

They may appear to be separate projects, but they represent two sides of the same requirement. Malta needs to secure sufficient electricity, and it needs a distribution network capable of delivering that electricity to homes and businesses reliably.

For too long, much of the public discussion has centred on the latter problem.

The second interconnector is approaching completion and will double Malta's interconnection capacity with the European electricity grid. The €300 million project involves a 225MW connection between Maghtab and Ragusa and is intended to strengthen security of supply while facilitating greater use of renewable energy.

At the same time, Enemalta has started the procurement process for two new 33kV submarine cables between Malta and Gozo, each around eight kilometres long. The investment is intended to meet Gozo's growing electricity demand, while a future 132kV link and two new distribution centres are also planned for the island.

These are substantial projects, and they are necessary.

But their importance should also be seen against what happened in 2023 and again this year.

The summers of 2023 and 2026 will be remembered for widespread and, in some cases, prolonged power cuts. In 2023, some residents were left without electricity for more than 40 hours. In 2026, peak demand reached 741MW, compared with the previous record of 663MW in 2023. Power cuts were lengthy too.

There is a simple reason why demand is increasing. Malta has grown. More people live here, more businesses operate here, more homes have been built and the way people live has changed. Houses once occupied by three or four people have in many cases been replaced by apartment blocks accommodating considerably more residents. Every additional household requires electricity, while air-conditioners, appliances, electric vehicles and other forms of electrification add further pressure.

This growth should not have come as a surprise.

Neither should the increasing demand for electricity during increasingly hot summers.

Saturday's two announcements suggest that the lessons of recent years are being translated into infrastructure projects. But announcements and procurement procedures are not the same thing as completed infrastructure.

The proof will be in the eating - or, in this case, in whether the lights stay on.

The Gozo cable project is particularly important, but it should not become a convenient explanation for all the difficulties experienced this summer. Gozo suffered serious outages after faults affected two major cables, but several localities in Malta were also repeatedly hit by power cuts. Enemalta knows which areas have been particularly vulnerable; indeed, compensation schemes have been introduced for consumers who suffered prolonged interruptions.

But compensation is not what residents and businesses ultimately want.

They want electricity.

They want to be able to sleep through a hot summer night, keep food refrigerated, operate machinery, work from home, run a business, and use essential appliances without wondering when the next interruption will occur.

Compensation can help offset the consequences of a failure. It cannot replace a reliable electricity network.

Malta therefore needs to look at the electricity system as one interconnected whole: generation, interconnection and distribution. Strengthening one part while another remains vulnerable will only move the problem elsewhere.

The investments announced are important steps. What Malta now needs is for them to be delivered on time, alongside the continued reinforcement of the distribution network.

Because the real measure of success will not be the number of projects announced. It will be whether, when the next exceptionally hot summer arrives, people can simply switch on the air-conditioner - and expect it to work.