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Enemalta finalises Malta-Sicily Interconnector repairs

By: Tom Russell 28/11/2022 Enemalta

General Interconnectors

Maltese energy company Enemalta finalised repair works on the sub-sea Malta-Sicily Interconnector cable, after it was damaged by a vessel anchor in a storm back in March.

Over the past three weeks, a team of Enemalta engineers and technicians, together with a technical team from Nexans, the company that manufactured the interconnector, carried out repair works at sea in Qalet Marku, Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq.

A robot was used to cut out over 1.5km of damaged cable. The cast iron shells, which protect the cable, were then removed.The damaged part was then replaced by a new cable which was stored at the Delimara Power station and was loaded onto Nexans’ cable-laying vessel Aurora in October. Following this jointing was carried out aboard the vessel.
These repair works alone cost around €25 million. Enemalta had opened a legal case for damages against the owners of Chem P, the vessel that caused these damages.

The 98km interconnector cable connects Malta to the European electricity grid in Sicily. Electricity from the interconnector forms around 20% of the electricity energy mix of Malta. During the repair works, it was switched off, and supply was provided by local sources, including Enemalta’s plants that are operated in such situations.

Enemalta has already ordered over a kilometre of spare interconnector cable, to be kept in storage should any damages or faults requiring such procedure come up.
This is the second time in the last three years that Enemalta needed to repair the 200 MW Malta-Italy Interconnector following damages by a vessel’s anchor.

Interconnect Malta Ltd (ICM), a government company operating under Malta’s Ministry of Environment, Energy and Enterprise, is developing a new 118 km, 200 MW high-voltage alternating current connection between Maghtab in Malta and Ragusa in Sicily, parallel to the first HVAC interconnector, which was laid in 2015. Malta-Sicily 2 It is expected to be operational in 2025.

For more information on interconnector projects worldwide, click here. Alternatively, you can view projects across the globe using 4C Offshore's Interactive Map.

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Enemalta finalises Malta-Sicily Interconnector repairs

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