Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1504697
13 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 JULY 2023 K ARL AZZOPARDI THOUSANDS of people were left fum- ing as Enemalta dealt with 87 faults on high-voltage cables throughout the 10- day heatwave in the second half of July. Faults on high-voltage cables normal- ly impact large areas with Enemalta's interactive online map becoming a go- to reference point each time electricity went out. Enemalta was not in a position to give us a breakdown of the faults by street but indicated the localities that were hit, or partially hit, by power outages. Mapping out the localities impacted by these 87 faults shows that very few localities were spared electricity out- ages during the period. The informa- tion obtained from Enemalta does not specify which areas within the respec- tive localities experienced power out- ages since not all streets in a town were necessarily impacted by the faults. Furthermore, some localities like Naxxar, Zurrieq, parts of Mosta and Birkirkara, faced more hardship be- cause of the length of time it took to restore energy. Enemalta scrambled several teams to fix the faults but multiple failures on the same localised network sometimes prevented the company from being able to provide an alternative supply of electricity to hit areas. Engineers have explained that the faults de- veloped on cable joints that are the weakest links in the underground network. A heav- ier load of elec- tricity passing through the net- work as people turned on their ACs for longer periods caused cables and joints to heat up more than usual. Heat from cables is normally dissipated into the ground but with a pro- longed heatwave, even the ground was hot, preventing cables from cool- ing down. This build-up of heat caused joints to fail, creating major disruptions across the board and crippling the distribu- tion system as multiple faults started to develop. Enemalta engineers have insisted that cable faults and electricity outag- es can never be completely eliminated but this could be mitigated by building more resilience in the network. This means the more substations, distribution centres and cable connec- tions there are, the less downtime will be experienced by customers. On Friday, the government an- nounced it was doubling the invest- ment in the distribution network. READ ALSO IN MT2 Editorial A climate change emergency and a new Malta Opinion Mark Anthony Sammut, PN energy spokesperson The 87 cable faults that left thousands without electricity Heatwaves and power cuts High-voltage cable power cuts (17 July - 26 July) Parts of the localities marked in purple may have been affected by these faults for some time or another during the heatwave • Source: Enemalta • Created with Datawrapper