A widespread power cut in the north lasting more than two hours yesterday was caused by a damaged cable, according to Enemalta.

The Christmas lights went out at about 5.20pm hitting the prime shopping zones of Sliema, Mosta and Ħamrun. Electricity also stopped flowing in Birkirkara, San Ġwann, Naxxar, Mellieħa, Attard and Mdina.

Enemalta said the power cut happened when a 132kv cable leading to the Mosta distribution centre tripped, causing “extensive power cuts in the north of the island”. The company said it was investigating what caused the cable to trip.

Enemalta said engineers started working immediately to locate the fault and the power started being restored at about 6pm. Electricity had returned in all localities by 7pm.

Coincidentally, on the same day Enemalta reported about the savings on fuel it made as a result of the Delimara power station extension.

After a week of continuous operation, the new plant at Delimara produced 14,200MWh of electricity, the company said in a statement earlier in the day.

“With the plant’s 47 per cent efficiency, 1,500 tonnes of fuel oil and 300 tonnes of gasoil were saved, which equates to €1 million in fuel savings,” Enemalta said.

It noted that the plant was capable of producing about 24,000MW every week but the engines were being operated on a special regime to make sure there was appropriate flexibility when it came to maintenance.

With Delimara now on board, the output from the aged Marsa plant could be reduced and Enemalta was expecting a reduction of 43,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every month.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.