May 16 - Parliament Discusses Works to Power Station Distribution System
During yesterday evening’s Parliament session, in response to questions from the Opposition on the recent incorporation of the temporary power station at the North Mole and whether this still meant that there was a need for a high voltage network system, Minister with responsibility for Utilities, Steven Linares explained that with the commissioning of the Temporary Power Station, new high voltage cables were laid between the site at the North Mole and the Waterport Power Station. Minister Linares added that these new cables had reinforced the high voltage network accordingly. In response, Opposition member Jaime Netto asked whether the Minister believed that the whole grid needed to be reinforced.
The Minister insisted that it was up to the technicians, who were confident that the cable was the only apparatus needed to distribute the voltage necessary.
Interjecting the questioning, the Chief Minister added that with the introduction of the New Power Station, there will be particularly high voltage transfers between the current temporary power station and the site of the new proposed power station, as well as the Waterport Power Station which is likely to remain the site where distribution will start. The Chief Minister also noted that a great deal of work would be carried out to the whole distribution network within Gibraltar. As mentioned in previous public statements, Mr. Picardo added that the issue of recurring power cuts has been due to a fault of the distribution network. The work being carried out to the network is now on-going, and not related to the implementation of the new power station tender programme, although that work may require parts of the high voltage network to be upgraded
Works to the system were announced in March, before the tender for the new power station was published. When questioned on whether the temporary turbines had exceeded the EU directive on noise levels on any occasion, Minister Linares said that within Gibraltar, the directives only applied to noise pollution emanating from traffic.
