Electricity demand hits record summer high
Enemalta has no fear of another power cut
Enemalta Corporation yesterday recorded the highest ever summer peak load in electricity demand - 367 megawatts, the corporation said.
The figure marked an increase of 5.5 per cent over last year's summer peak load of 348 megawatts, reached on July 17.
The highest peak load ever recorded in Malta was 369 megawatts last January.
Extremes in temperatures always drive up demand and in the past few days - as temperatures hovered close to 40 degrees Celsius - people preferred to stay in an air-conditioned room than to go out in the sweltering heat.
"There is no doubt that air-conditioners improve the quality of our lives, but it is important to remember to use such appliances in the most efficient way possible and to avoid energy wastage," the corporation said.
Every household in Malta is provided with 40 Amps of power, much higher than countries like Italy which only have 13.5 Amps.
The news of the highest ever peak load comes just two weeks after Malta and Gozo experienced four hours without electricity, after a transformer at the Marsa station tripped due to high temperatures and set off a chain of events that led to a shutdown of both power stations.
When contacted, corporation chairman Robert Ghirlando said there were no fears that the high load would plunge the islands into darkness again.
Prof. Ghirlando explained that the biggest headache for the corporation had been the two explosions which caused damage at the Marsa power station in June and November of 2000.
"Enemalta is now in the process of planning new switchgear for the Marsa power station," Prof. Ghirlando said.
Apart from the fact that the work involves very complex engineering, since workers have to carry out the work without switching off the power station, it is also a dangerous job.
Prof. Ghirlando explained that when the June explosion had occurred, an English firm had supplied a refurbished breaker which had exploded when put into service in November.
"We were very annoyed and at the time the English firm had wanted to switch off the power station for two weeks to repair it. This was not possible and in the end our employees managed to fix it with the power station still on," he said.
"I pay tribute to those employees who worked so hard to fix it," he added.