System Fault And Engine Tripping To Blame For Recent Power Outages
The Gibraltar Electricity Authority has apologised to all customers affected by the power outages experienced yesterday and today.
The following statement set out the separate and unrelated causes of both outages: “The significant power outage yesterday was identified as a system fault with an auxiliary generator at the North Mole Power Station. This system was isolated and our investigations are ongoing in order to identify the root cause of the problem in the auxiliary generator in what is a very complex system.
“The cause of today’s power outage is totally unrelated to yesterday’s failure. Earlier this afternoon, one of our generating engines tripped with a load of 12 MWs, out of a total grid demand at the time of 30 MWs. Unfortunately, the remaining generating engines were unable to cope with the sudden increase in power requirement, thereby triggering an almost instantaneous automatic load shedding process. In order to cater for the loss of the generating engine, other engines were immediately fired up and the restoration process commenced thereafter taking twenty minutes until the power to the last affected customers was restored.
“The GEA continues to work to mitigate power outages and is grateful to its consumers for their understanding.”
