Technology
New plant to increase electricity supply by 20%
By MaltaMedia News
Jun 20, 2007 - 6:11:24 PM

Enemalta Corporation will be issuing a tender to add another plant to the Delimara Power Station. The new plant is set to increase electricity supply by 100 to 120 megawatts or 20%. It is projected that the new plant will take around two years to be constructed.

The Corporation Chairman Ing Alex Tranter made the announcement while addressing a press conference over recent power outages in Malta on Wednesday. The Chairman explained that power cuts in various localities around the island were cause by an unconnected series of faults, both in the generation and in the distribution of electricity.  

Ing Tranter also denied that these faults were related to recent power tests carried out on Mater Dei Hospital which will be inaugurated in the upcoming days.  

The Chairman furthermore explained that the Corporation is prepared to meet projected electricity generation demands in the upcoming years which are expected to increase substantially through projects such as SmartCity.  

While noting that this week’s electricity demand peaked at 360 megawatts most probably because of rising temperatures, Ing Tranter also said that the demand was below that registered in during the same days last year, which reached 370 megawatts.

In a statement late on Tuesday, Enemalta said that power cuts earlier during the day began at around 0200CEST when a fault on an 11kV feeder at Kordin developed, leaving Tarxien, Marsascala and Żejtun without electricity until around 0600CEST.  

Valletta was the next locality to be affected by a power cut, which occurred at around 0930CEST due to overloading. Electricity supply was restored by 1040CEST.  

A transformer at Tarxien distribution centre also tripped at around 1150CEST, resulting in outages in the South of Malta, with the supply being restored within a hour.

Earlier on, At 1100CEST, an 11kV feeder at Sliema developed a fault and tripped. Enemalta Corporation said in a statement that in this light a number of substations were re-energized.  

Enemalta further notified that as a result of the cable fault there may be further switching operations throughout Wednesday in the Sliema and St Julians areas, to balance the load and stabilise the system. Enemalta said it will make every effort to minimize the inconvenience and limit the duration of individual power outages to about four hours.

The Corporation also reminded customers to report faults and power interruptions on freephone number 80072224 during office hours, and on telephone number 21223601 after office hours.