Govt says resilience works may have prevented Gibraltar-wide power outage

The Government says this morning's power cut could have been Gibraltar-wide had it not been for recent improvements to strengthen resilience.

The power cut affected the North District and was - once again - caused by a contractor damaging a high-voltage cable.

The Government told GBC this happened at the site of the Elysium project.

The power cut began at around 8.30am; the Government says power was fully restored by 10.08am.

The areas affected included Laguna Estate and Devil's Tower Road, with traffic lights taken out of operation.

Among the places affected was the airport, which operated on generator power; there was no disruption to flights.

The Government says it was informed by the Electricity Authority that a high-voltage cable was damaged in the Bayside area.

Asked by GBC for the name of the contractor, Number Six said the incident happened at the site of the Elysium project.

This is a major mixed-use development, from TNG Realty and Rox Living Global from Vietnam, which will consist of six buildings on the old Bayside and St Anne's School site. 

The Government told GBC the cable damage was on the same ring as the cable responsible for the total outage earlier this year, on the 26th June - although at a different location. 

It said, "Critically, the improvements made since June worked. Engine 5 detected the fault immediately, and the strengthened network configuration contained it to a localised area rather than letting it cascade into a full blackout ... Without that work, today could well have repeated June's total power loss."

Number Six added, "Further work continues until the Authority is satisfied fault currents are fully managed at every level of the infrastructure. A full update on the work carried out will be provided in September. The Government remains committed to a resilient, reliable electricity network for Gibraltar."

The Government also said the Minister with responsibility for the Electricity Authority will meet with the contractor behind Wednesday's outage to convey her disappointment.

Gemma Arias-Vasquez said contractors are given detailed cable maps and on-site instructions.

She said she wanted to hear directly from the contractor as to how these works were planned and carried out.

The Minister cited the powers granted by the Electricity Infrastructure (Damage) Act to impose financial penalties of up to £100,000, saying incidents of this kind have real consequences for families, businesses and essential services