Blackout causes havoc

Malta and Gozo were hit by a total blackout yesterday as both power stations shut down completely twice.

Enemalta said the outages were caused by a "technical fault" but the corporation could not identify what caused the first power cut. It said the second electricity cut was caused when turbine number nine at the Marsa power plant tripped.

People who work in the vicinity of the plant said that on both occasions they heard a loud noise similar to a bursting gas pipe before electricity went out.

A fire engine was seen on site but the corporation said no workers were injured because the fault was technical. It said engineers were investigating the matter to determine the source of the failure.

The first power outage happened at about 10.30 a.m. and lasted for hours. Enemalta engineers started restoring electricity gradually to some areas when the second power outage happened at 4 p.m.

In Gozo, electricity was not returned since the morning incident when the second blackout occurred and in other areas electricity had only just been restored when it went off again.

By 6 p.m., electricity was restored in certain localities. Enemalta said it was restored completely at 8.50 p.m.

The outages also affected the water supply because the reverse osmosis plants were switched off.

Households in Sliema, Swieqi and San Ġwann experienced water cuts but engineer Marc Muscat, the chief executive officer of the Water Services Corporation, said the problem was linked to low water pressure.

"Such a major power outage does have an impact on our plants. We have enough water reserves to service the demand but because of the electricity cuts the system would be relying completely on gravity and so certain areas (reliant on water pumps) could experience low water pressure," Mr Muscat explained.

Enemalta said the power stations at Delimara and Marsa "turned off suddenly" causing a "total shutdown".

It is not clear whether the failure was linked to increased demand but the temperature yesterday was not particularly high with the Meteorological Office at Malta International Airport recording a maximum of 30°C.

The power outages caused widespread problems for businesses and many office people could be seen walking up and down Republic Street in Valletta as they waited for the electricity to return. Some shop owners even put down their shutter sending employees back home.

The director general of the Malta Employers' Association, Joseph Farrugia said the outages were serious but one had to see whether they were a one-off thing. "If they become habitual that would be something else. Apart from the impact on all companies, electricity outages damage most those in financial services and online gaming," Mr Farrugia said.

The Civil Protection Department was called out to rescue a number of people who were trapped in lifts during the power cuts.