Updated 2.20pm

Power was restored across Malta two hours after much of the islands were left without electricity late on Friday morning.

An Enemalta spokesperson told Times of Malta that the undersea interconnector linking Malta to the European power grid had "tripped". 

At 1.10pm, Enemalta said the fault which developed on the interconnector in Sicily has been resolved and electricity supply has been restored to 75% of the affected consumers.

At 2.10pm a spokesperson said power had been restored across Malta. The company said it was looking into what had caused the damage to the interconnector and taking the necessary precautions to reduce such "risks". 

While the spokesperson said that not all of Malta was impacted, the extent of the power cut was clear from the multitude of reports posted to social media networks in the minutes after power was lost.

Residents in towns all across Malta, from Żebbuġ, Malta to Sannat, Gozo, reported losing power at around 11.40am. Others in Gżira, Paola, Sliema, Birkirkara, Gudja and Balzan also reported outages.

Enemalta's own website was temporarily offline. 

Rapid fix in some localities 

It did not take too long for power to be restored in a number of localities. Residents in Rabat, Naxxar, parts of Gozo and Ħamrun all reported having electricity by 12.15pm.

The fault which developed on the interconnector in Sicily has been resolved. Electricity supply has been restored to 75% of the affected consumers.

As of that time, however, an interactive map on Enemalta's website showing power cut locations across the country indicated that significant problems remained in many towns and villages.

A map of power outages provided by Enemalta at 12.15pm on Friday.

LNG tanker temporarily offline due to storm

Friday's interconnector outage adds to what was already a very busy week for Enemalta engineers. On Thursday, technicians fixed dozens of outages and faults caused by the strong winds and rains of Storm Helios. 

The interconnector is one of Malta's two main sources of power, with the other being the Electrogas power station in Delimara.

That power station is powered using LNG fuel pumped to it from an offshore tanker which, however, was temporarily disconnected on Thursday as a safety precaution due to gale-force winds and torrential rain. 

As a result, the interconnector was supplying a heavier load than usual to the national grid, an Enemalta spokesperson told Times of Malta. 

Plans to build a second undersea interconnector were announced in 2021, with a projected deadline of 2025.