The amount of electricity imported through the undersea interconnector fell dramatically by almost 30 per cent last year, with the shortfall made up by increased electricity coming from power stations and renewable sources. 

Statistics released on Tuesday showed that a record amount of electricity was supplied and used during 2018, with supply 2.8% higher than in the previous year and demand up by 0.5% year-on-year.

Malta's energy supply mix

In total, 2,532.6GWh of electricity were supplied last year.

67.7% of that was generated by power plants, with 24.5% imported through the interconnector and 7.8% coming from renewable sources.

Where did electricity come from?

Electricity production from power plants registered an increase of 19.2% when compared to the previous year, amounting to 1,763.5GWh.

Energy harvesting from renewable sources registered an increase of 15.4%, reaching 198.6GWh in 2018. Most of the renewable energy (95.5%) was produced from photovoltaic panels.

A total of 631.3GWh were imported through the interconnector, registering a decrease of 29.6% when compared to the previous year.

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August had highest demand, supply

The highest supply of electricity was in August (266GWh) with a share of 10.5%, followed by July with (258.3GWh) with 10.2% of the amount of electricity supplied.

August and September featured the highest demand, registering 465MW and 460MW respectively. 

In July, Enemalta had attributed nationwide power cuts to "abnormally high" demand for electricity. 

Emissions from power plant sources decreased by 3.6%.