Following yesterday’s power cut, the GSD has questioned recent investments in Gibraltar’s power infrastructure and called for a full explanation of the outage.

A statement from the GSD follows below:

The latest blackout in Gibraltar raises serious questions about the Government's repeated assurances  regarding the resilience, reliability and security of Gibraltar's electricity infrastructure. 

Only recently, the Government sought to reassure the public that the £16.5 million investment in the  Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) would strengthen the resilience of the network and help ensure  continuity of supply in the event of failures at the power station. Gibraltar's residents and businesses  were told that significant investment had been made to safeguard against precisely the kind of  disruption experienced last night. 

Yet despite those assurances, Gibraltar once again found itself plunged into darkness. 

This outage disrupted daily life for thousands of residents, affected businesses during a busy evening  trading period, interrupted major events and reportedly resulted in flight diversions to Malaga.  Retailers, restaurants, bars and other businesses were left counting the cost of a failure that occurred  at one of the busiest times of the week. 

Particularly concerning is the timing of the incident. The outage coincided with the KPMG eSummit,  where Gibraltar's gaming and technology sectors were actively showcasing the jurisdiction to  international businesses, investors and prospective newcomers. At a time when Gibraltar was seeking  to project itself as a modern, stable and competitive business centre, it instead suffered a highly visible  infrastructure failure. 

The contrast between the Government's rhetoric and the reality experienced by residents, businesses  and visitors could not be more stark. 

This is especially so given the Government's repeated references in recent days to the "certainty" that  will supposedly flow from the recently announced UK-EU treaty agreement. Certainty is not simply a  political slogan. It must be reflected in the ability of a jurisdiction to deliver reliable public services and  resilient infrastructure. For those attending the eSummit and for the many businesses affected by the  outage, there was little certainty on display as Gibraltar suffered another major power failure. 

The public is also entitled to ask how, after a project that has cost taxpayers well over £100 million  when the power station, LNG storage and associated infrastructure are taken into account, Gibraltar  continues to experience failures of this nature. The Government has consistently presented this  project as the solution to longstanding concerns about security of power supply.  

The public deserves a full explanation of what happened, whether the BESS system operated as  intended, what safeguards failed, and what steps will now be taken to prevent a recurrence.

Equally striking has been the response from the Minister responsible. In a recent interview with GBC,  Minister Arias-Vasquez spoke about the importance of leading with humility. Those words ring hollow  in the aftermath of this outage. Rather than offering an immediate apology to the thousands affected,  the Minister chose to emphasise that no one was more disheartened than she was because she missed  the parade. While no one doubts that the Minister may have been disappointed, genuine humility  starts with acknowledging the impact on others. Residents were left without power, businesses lost  trade, events were disrupted, and Gibraltar's reputation suffered at precisely the moment the  jurisdiction was presenting itself to international investors and businesses. 

Craig Sacarello from the GSD, with shadow ministerial responsibility for the Utilities, commented, “The  absence of a clear apology and a demonstration of empathy towards those affected has been almost  as remarkable as the outage itself. Leadership demands accountability, humility and a willingness to  accept responsibility when things go wrong. The Government cannot continue to make sweeping  claims about resilience, reliability and certainty while failing to explain why these incidents continue  to occur. The people of Gibraltar deserve answers, accountability and the confidence that lessons will  finally be learned from yet another costly failure.”