A blackout hit the entire Maltese islands yesterday afternoon after an unexpected technical fault shut down a boiler at the Marsa power station.

As a consequence to this "instantaneous fault" to Boiler 7, that struck without warning, the power-generation load was shifted to the Delimara power station.

However, an automatic safety mechanism then shut down Delimara to protect the machinery from damage and power was disrupted to the whole of Malta and Gozo, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said during a press conference called to explain the incident yesterday evening.

Mr Fenech said Enemalta staff worked tirelessly to determine what triggered the fault to the boiler but the exact cause was not yet known. However, foul play had been ruled out, he added.

The country-wide power cut struck at about 4.10 p.m., sending people home early from work and causing some shopkeepers to pull down their shutters before closing time.

Others decided to stick it out and go back to basics, resorting to candle light and lanterns.

During the early rush hour, the traffic congestion was made worse by the fact that the lights were not working.

Power started to be restored to some areas at about 4.57 p.m. beginning with Mater Dei Hospital, which had been operating on generators.

That was followed by the Malta Freeport and parts of Msida and Sliema. By 8.47 p.m., power had been fully restored to the entire grid.

As he apologised for the inconvenience, Mr Fenech said the damage resulting from this power cut was "in no way similar" to that caused during the two most recent nation-wide blackouts last June and November. The June blackout alone, which lasted over 10 hours, was estimated to have cost the country between €8 and €10 million, according to an economist at the time.

In both June and November, equipment at the Marsa power plant had tripped.

"The reality is that the Marsa power station is getting old," Mr Fenech said, adding that the government was working on solving the problem through the extension of the Delimara station, planned for 2011, and installation of the submarine cable linking Malta to Sicily the following year.

The Marsa power station currently shouldered 25 per cent of the nation's electricity needs and the rest was catered for by Delimara, Mr Fenech explained.

After the fault occurred yesterday, the country's electricity supply was generated by Delimara with only some help from Boiler 9 in Marsa.

Mr Fenech explained that supply had to be switched on in phases not to trip the system.

He thanked the General Workers' Union for lifting ongoing industrial action by Enemalta workers. (The GWU had declared an industrial dispute with Enemalta, accusing the corporation of planning to transfer the work done by its employees in the Credit Control Section to a contractor.)

The Marsa station is scheduled to be shut down by 2015 after the EU imposed a 20,000-hour operational limit on it.

However, recent figures presented in Parliament showed that the Marsa station has used up over half its available hours of operation and, at the current rate, would have to be shut down earlier.

Meanwhile, speaking in Parliament yesterday before the press conference, Labour Deputy Leader Anġlu Farrugia asked whether the power cut was a case of sabotage and requested information on the inquiry into the sabotage allegations in the June fault.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said at that stage he could not rule anything out in the latest outage although at the press conference later, Mr Fenech was able to do so. As for the June allegations, Dr Gonzi said he was sure police would have taken action if sabotage had resulted.

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