Matthew Xuereb
Enemalta ordered to explain abnormal demand
'Power cut reflected a lack of investment'
The Finance Minister is seeking specific details as to what led to a sudden spike in electricity demand that left various parts of Malta in pitch darkness for four hours on Good Friday because Enemalta's investigation did not establish this.
The investigation, ordered by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech and conducted by Enemalta chief executive officer Karl Camilleri, did not delve into what caused the abnormal demand, a ministry spokesman said when contacted.
The intention of the report demanded by the minister was not to determine what caused the spike but what Enemalta could do for the blackout not to happen again, the spokesman added. Hence, the ministry had asked for more details to establish the cause.
The spokesman said the report would not be published in full because it was an internal document.
According to the report, parts of which were released in a ministry statement on Tuesday, between 7.27 and 7.37 p.m. on Good Friday, demand increased by 11.5MW, more than double the spare capacity that stood at 5MW.
Enemalta admitted it did not have enough spare capacity to deal with such an abnormal increase in electricity demand, which led to the power outage. It was the second in 11 days and the fourth in almost a year.
According to the investigation, when the power failed, both power stations were generating 210MW of power and Enemalta had 5MW of reserve energy readily available to cater for any increase in demand. However, when the demand spiked, this was double what it had anticipated and the whole set-up collapsed.
The report recommended reserve capacity to rise from 5MW to 10MW in order to ensure a better security margin in the eventuality that demand increased unexpectedly.
Another recommendation was to ban the possibility of unions issuing directives that limited communication between workers in the corporation's electricity generation section. On this, the General Workers' Union said it was unacceptable that workers were always held responsible for a power cut. It deplored how Enemalta's management tried to blame the outage on its industrial action when the directives did not apply to the engineers.
The union said Enemalta's report on the power cut could not be taken seriously because it was prepared by people with a possible conflict of interest.
The GWU said it would not allow anyone to cast doubts and suspicions on the workers who were following its directives. The power cut, it said, reflected lack of investment, which had already been highlighted in a report commissioned in 2006 and which had forecast power cuts if no proper investment was made in the generation of electricity.
The union thanked the employees for tirelessly working, sometimes putting their lives in danger, to return the electricity provision to normal in the shortest possible time and promised to continue safeguarding their interests.
The Malta Employers' Association also commented on Enemalta's report, saying its conclusions did not put anyone's mind at rest that such power cuts would not happen again. It said such power cuts were inexcusable and caused severe problems to business.
While lauding the government for demanding an explanation, the employers said this had to be followed up with concrete action.
"Whether it is a result of incompetence, strained industrial relations or an ageing infrastructure, the government can do nothing less than guarantee a regular electricity supply to businesses and consumers. Rather than technical reports, this is what really matters," the MEA said.
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Maria Agius
Apr 8th 2010, 18:22
@Ing. Cilia
Have you been there? You know what happened? You know how many times Engineers shoulder responsibility and take decisions that avoid other total shut downs, without ever getting a meagre compliment? I am sure that your comment is a blow for dedicated staff that I’m sure does exist in the power stations and distribution network.
You have two options: Either apologize for your comments or present your contact details to Enemalta’s management so you can start teaching engineers and technicians their skills, given that you are so informed on the situation.
PS:
How come the only two persons blaming engineers are engineers themselves? Is there any grudge between senior engineers and junior engineers?
Maria Agius
Apr 8th 2010, 18:14
@Ing. J. Pace
As from what you are saying,that load demand predictions are attributable to luck and judgement. It seems that there is no clear written procedures of what Engineers should do in similar situations. Having been an Enemalta Engineer, and probably one of a high rank, you should have been one of those who should have produced these procedures, instead of now blogging the entire nation to blame a junior engineer, without knowing all the facts.( given that your theory is correct.)
john camilleri
Apr 8th 2010, 17:50
It is absurd, to say that electricity went off because of abnormal demand. On good Friday most of our Factories were closed. No heaters and or fans were on, since the weather was really fine.Streets lit as usual, not like when they are lit on a village feast. So please do not treat us like idiots.
Mean while, were are the people responsable to forecast these problems, and not , to try to arrange things when the problems arise.
Henry S Pace
Apr 8th 2010, 17:32
'According to the report, parts of which were released in a ministry statement on Tuesday, between 7.27 and 7.37 p.m. on Good Friday, demand increased by 11.5MW, more than double the spare capacity that stood at 5MW.'
Yes of course this immediate demand occured by the lit up candles at the Godd Friday processions around the island.
This is a very serious occurance.
Ing Pace is right.
Ing. George Cilia
Apr 8th 2010, 17:30
The last two power cuts had nothing to do with spinning-reserve capacity. This soccer-ball argument is nothing but a smoke screen for another *far* more serious underlying problem.
The real problem is the gradual, but inexorable decline in Enemalta's technical ability to run and maintain a complex power plant and energy distribution network. The corporation has been facing a skills shortage for some time and as the highly qualified veteran engineers retire one by one, we are left with a new breed of mass-produced engineers and technicians that have less than what it takes to shoulder the enormous responsibility of an entire nation's energy supply.
This is not just a question of money, or lack of investment in machinery. This is a matter of plant operators and system planners that are not fully aware of the consequences of their actions or lack-of. This is the result of a decade's worth of degeneration of our engineering skill base.
The root of the problem lies within the educational system and unless the government realizes that genuine engineering skill is NOT NEGOTIABLE, we can only expect the situation to degenerate further and further.
stephen fenech
Apr 8th 2010, 16:38
I tried to see Enemalta chairman on the news giving us another one of his explanations on the latest national shutdown of the 2nd April........but hey come to think of it ...........it was dark!!
Adrian Borg Cardona
Apr 8th 2010, 16:03
Martinelli: to continue on your conspiracy theory, maybe a large number of Maltese of a certain political colour, agreed to turn on all available lights at the same time - just to spite the Nationalist Govt. Has Minister Fenech thought of this one??
Ing John Pace
Apr 8th 2010, 15:27
From what I can guess from the reports (I am a former Enemalta engineer) it was an error of judgement by a junior engineer who was the duty officer at the power station on the day. Good Friday is from time immemorial regarded as the day with the lowest electricity demand of the year. Anticipating a low peak demand the engineer hesitated in deciding whether to run a fuel guzzling gas turbine just to pass over the peak. He was unlucky. On the other hand if Enemalta habitually runs its expensive peak lopping generators just to have spare capacity for unforseen demands would further increase the high cost of electricity. So it boils down to judgement and luck.
More serious is the failure of the engineer to shed part of the load when he realised that it was not possible to meet the demand by the time the gas turbine was ready to take load. Load shedding at peak time goes against the power station engineers’ creed, but it will save the day in the same manner as a surgeon amputating a limb can save a person’s life. A tough split second decision would have saved the day.
Vince Calleja
Apr 8th 2010, 15:27
"...between 7.27 and 7.37 p.m. on Good Friday, demand increased by 11.5MW"
Did everyone in Malta switch on the TV to watch ONE News (@7.30pm)? What was the main item that day? No wonder ONE TV is the station of the year again...with so much audience that trips the entire power station! :)
J Martinelli
Apr 8th 2010, 15:19
From reading several comments, the blackout could have been the result of any one of the following or a combination of all:
1. Human error. How to solve? Fire an individual? Reassign him elsewhere? Retrain?
2. Equipment failure? Already (if not hastily) ruled out. But the older equipment gets, the more faults are apt to develop.
3. Sabotage? Already (if not hastily) ruled out. Too may coincidences? Maybe.
4. Obsolete (Marsa) station? No doubt about this one, but then why so many obstacles by the Opposition, delaying the Delimara extension? Is there an 'unofficial' conspiracy here with accomplices planted both in Marsa and Delimara? Remember, if the GWU defends its workers even before they are blamed, it causes one to stop and think!
It is odd that a 'spike' of 11 megawatts occurred on a specific day around dusk when every Tom Dick and Harry switches on. This spike should be a daily occurrence and should not have surprised the power station engineers. It is beyond belief that one source could possibly induce an 11 megawatt load, and if so, it would be quite easy to identify.
Ivan Abela
Apr 8th 2010, 15:14
"The spokesman said the report would not be published in full because it was an internal document." - Now what is this spokesman talking about? Internal?
1) Enemalta is a government company
2) I am a tax paying citizen of Malta.
3) Point No 2 makes me a shareholder of Malta
4) Point No 3 makes me an owner of enemalta
So there is nothing internal here...that is why enemalta is called a public company. I, together with the rest of tax paying citizens, own enemalta and demand a FULL explanation without anything being hidden.
Henry S Pace
Apr 8th 2010, 15:06
Only gullibble people accept the Enemalta Report. The Minister confirmed that he is not so gullible.
Being Good Friday Enemalta failed to explain the power failure. The Business community was not functioning . shops were closed Church facades were not fully lit being Good Friday.
Air conditions were mostly closed.
The high rise in power demand at that time cannot convince anyone. The people responsible for this failure must resign or be expelled from their place of work.
They are trying to take the nation for a good ride. However, I am convinced that people are not so gullible.
martha calleja
Apr 8th 2010, 14:22
i just informed my husband (ex-generation operator) about what the report said that i just read........he looked at me and smiled......``.11.5 MW !!?? on a good friday??......they are trying to hide the sun with their small finger``
R Dimech
Apr 8th 2010, 14:16
between 7.27 and 7.37 p.m. on Good Friday, demand increased by 11.5MW,
Is that the period when street lighting is switched on at this time of year? Otherwise, it was certainly a 'quiet' day.
Joe V Scerri
Apr 8th 2010, 12:53
The next thing we'll hear is that it was all the fault of timesofmalta.com. They came up with the story of the 'sfineg' in Rabat. You know all those friers will probably make up for the additional 6+MW. And in fact in an act of avengence it was one of the last places which got their elecitricity restored.
Guys, April fool only lasts for one day.
Mark Ellul
Apr 8th 2010, 12:35
Would have preferred this heading.
Finance Minister and Pn ordered to explain abnormal deficit.
O Galea
Apr 8th 2010, 12:26
I cannot understand why all this dilly-dallying about investments in power generation! As if the delimara power station and its later gas turbine extensions fell out from the skies. As if the expensive distribution centers with ancillary infrastructure (tunnels etc) in Mosta, San Giljan, Floriana and where ever else, surfaced for free from the seas. And what about the upgrades to the Marsa station? Who doesn't remember the coal with all its disadvantages at Menqa? Who altered the generation system from coal to oil? And what about about the kilometers of distribution cables around the islands to enhance power supply? Wasn't this all investment?
I am not saying that mistakes by who should know better were not taken along the years. But come on. Let's all be reasonable. I think the authorities should now speed up the much needed Delimara extension and be 100% sure that the planned new equipment is the right one and that it is the least to cause pollution, cheapest technology to run and wouldn't require upgrading modifications within a couple of years. Last and not lease finalise the connection to the European grid as fast as possible. Until then one hopes no more cuts.
Darren J. Galea
Apr 8th 2010, 11:01
Why the Finance Minister? And please PN, these slippery tactics don't detract from the very obvious fact that the root cause of these frequent power cuts are government apathy and lack of investment, nothing less.
We have become used to no blue-eyed-boys being responsible for anything in this country - they just reap the benefits and hightail it when things (as they frequently do) go pear-shaped.
Freshly braised scapegoat anyone?
N.Lawrence
Apr 8th 2010, 10:53
The Finance Minister is seeking specific details as to what led to a sudden spike in electricity demand---
This should bring on a whole lot of new fairy tales.
Charles Micallef
Apr 8th 2010, 10:50
The only thing abnormal with Enemalta is their tariffs and lack of responsability!
G. Fenech
Apr 8th 2010, 10:37
Just like when the candidates for EU representatives in Malta cheated the system by spending a lot more than allowed and "investigations" were being done.... this will blow over and nothing will get done.
Just like the black soot, just like the money spent on the EU building in Brussels, just like MEPA permissions to buildings in green zones, just like everything else that the Maltese population wanted concrete answers about... this will blow over and nothing will get done.
Typical PN.
And i thought Berlusconi was bad.
g.c.Forte
Apr 8th 2010, 10:24
Are we playing Ping Pong here ? Cikku il poplu wants the truth Mr. chief executive officer. Mhux ovja......It was Good Friday and most of the public was out, no A.C. no Christmas trees, no nothing to make our Power Stations fails.You knew that if the Minister was going to swallow it because he is not an engineer, like me,but the public are not stupid, and you have to come with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God, because after, when it result that the fault concerning the inefficiency and irresponsibility of the government, YOU will lose your job, either you resign ,or somebody makes you to resign, that is how our government play the game........
Anthony Caruana
Apr 8th 2010, 11:00
Well said.......I can't agree with you more!!!
Matthew Borg Cardona
Apr 8th 2010, 09:55
"The union thanked the employees for tirelessly working, sometimes putting their lives in danger ... "
Are people's lives in danger? Is this OK with the authorities and unions?
N Cassar
Apr 8th 2010, 12:16
Yes ... life is at stake when one is working in an environment as old as Marsa and Delimara Power Stations. So please stop blaming workers or GWU for Enemalta's incompetance ... blame the management AND government for lack of thought and investment in our energy supply, and blame this government and not PL for they had 25 years to invest and they blew it all off.
We should all thank our lucky starts that no lives are lost or nothing serios ever happens when we have these blackouts!!