A 4.65km tunnel connecting Magħtab to Pembroke, which forms part of the interconnector project, was completed last week.

The tunnel also forms part of an important element of another Enemalta project to strengthen the national electricity grid. Cables from the interconnector’s Magħtab terminal will be channelled through the tunnel to be connected to the national grid.

Through this investment, Enemalta aims to improve electricity distribution in Msida, Ġżira, Sliema, St Julian’s, Swieqi, San Ġwann and other nearby areas.

Excavation works started in 2012 at Magħtab and continued until last week when the miners successfully reached the tunnel’s exit point at Pembroke, a few metres away from the distribution centre site. The tunnel is four metres wide and is between 10 to 115 metres beneath ground level.

The development of electricity distribution tunnels started in Malta in 1996 to reinforce the national electricity grid with a new 132kV network.

Enemalta currently operates more than 23 kilometres of tunnels, leading from the two power stations at Marsa and Delimara to several distribution centres in Malta.

The laying of high voltage cables through tunnels is a much more efficient solution to placing them in trenches at street level as these cannot be accidentally damaged during excavations or other related road works.

Several cables can be passed through the same tunnel, at different times, without the inconvenience of having to dig up new trenches each time.

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