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Malta’s state power company has admitted that its investment in the distribution network should be “more aggressive” as it faces a second consecutive summer of blackouts.
Ryan Fava, the company’s executive chairman, said 14 diesel generators have been installed at multiple locations to ensure continuity of power supply until the grid failure is repaired.
He attended a press conference Saturday afternoon along with Energy Minister Miriam Dalli.
This is the second summer in a row that parts of the power distribution grid have failed during the ongoing heatwave. A National Audit Office review of last year’s events found the situation was made worse by a lack of investment. It has a history of 10 years in high voltage power grid.
While Malta Electricity had dismissed the National Audit Office’s findings as “an opinion”, Fava conceded today that investment in the network could have been “more aggressive”. However, he noted that investment should not be piecemeal.
The National Audit Office report found that the company focused on investing in the low-voltage network – the part of the grid that connects to homes – but not enough on the high-voltage network, which is where heat-related failures occur.
Over the past week, several areas have experienced power outages due to faults in the high-voltage network. On Friday night, a grid outage plunged parts of Gzira, St Julian’s and St Guann into darkness, while a fault in Gozo caused a power outage in the northwest of the island.
Also read: Grid failure isolates Gzira, St Julian and Garb, leaving thousands exposed to heatwave
Fava said Malta Electricity was deploying generators to ensure power was maintained in the event of a blackout. “We are doing our best not to leave people in total darkness for hours on end,” he said.
Malta Electricity has five generators deployed and nine more subcontracted. More generators are on the way and will be on standby, he said.
Fava said that last week’s soaring temperatures had increased the load at Malta Electricity by 25 megawatts to 30 megawatts.
Miriam Dalli said that after the blackouts that Malta suffered in July 2023, the Malta National Electricity Company (Enemalta) launched a fast-track investment program to upgrade the distribution network in several areas including Dingli, Rabat, Naxxa, Mosta, Kotonella and Zurrig.
She said works carried out in those areas have improved power restoration capabilities and these places experienced only minor power outages this time.
Enemalta has identified St Paul’s Bay, St Julian’s, Sliema, Gzira, Birkirkara, Attard, Rebki and Qormi as areas that require further investment in the distribution network
Fawa said most of the work would take place later this year, when electricity demand would return to normal levels.
Also read: Editorial | Enemalta bosses’ arrogance
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