Updated 1.50pm - Added OPM statement

An overnight blackout that left much of Malta in the dark was due to a power cut in Sicily that affected the undersea interconnector, Enemalta said today. 

Enemalta chairman Frederick Azzopardi said the company registered two voltage dips on the interconnector before supply went out six minutes past 1am.

The power cut affected households in Birkirkara, Buġibba, Gozo, Gżira, Msida Pembroke, Rabat, Sliema, Swieqi and Tarxien, among others. 

At the time the power cut out, the interconnector was supplying 148MW, 75 per cent of the demand. The remaining supply was being provided by the old Delimara 1 power station.

Engineer Azzopardi said it took almost two hours for the interconnector to be synchronised again, and only after the Italian counterparts informed them it could be used.

Meanwhile, Enemalta had switched on three engines at the BWSC plant and increased the load on D1 to start energising its network.

Azzopardi said that by 3.39am all customers were reconnected to the grid.
He said the incident hammered home the point that the country did not have security of supply.

With the interconnector being the largest source of electricity the country loses 200MW at one go if something happens to it, he added.

Azzopardi said the new gas power station would provide security of supply, giving the company more flexibility since it was made up of individual machines.

That message was reiterated by the Office of the Prime Minister, which in a statement said that the incident was proof that Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil's energy plans would lead to widespread power cuts, as well as dirtier air. 

In a tweet, the government's head of communications Kurt Farrugia said that power cuts were due to "interconnector failure following severe weather in Ragusa". 

Critics remain sceptical

The official explanation provided by Mr Farrugia and later Enemalta did not wash with Times of Malta blogger and former Enemalta spokesperson Mel Hart. 

In a Facebook post, Ms Hart argued that the power cut was more likely due to human error than problems in Sicily. 

"The interconnector is not the only source of electricity in Malta as Malta has plenty more sources of generation, more than enough to cover current demand," she wrote. 

Mel Hart took to Facebook to express scepticism. Image: Mel Hart/Facebook

Ragusa is on the southern tip of Sicily and marks the Italian end of the 95km-long interconnector, which connects at Magħtab in Malta. 

A low-pressure weather system covering the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Sea is extending towards the Maltese Islands, bringing with it rain and high-speed west and south-westerly winds. Ragusa experienced similar weather overnight. 

The power cut came mere days after the government announced that the LNG tanker in Marsaxlokk had received its first-ever shipment of gas. 

Last August, a fire in the interconnector tunnel left large swathes of central Malta with no electricity for several hours.