Gibraltar-wide power outage caused by transformer failure
Gibraltar was plunged into a total blackout just before midnight on Sunday due to a fault in one of the North Mole power station’s two transformer enclosures.
Image for illustration purposes.
Gibraltar: Gibraltar was plunged into a total blackout just before midnight on Sunday due to a fault in one of the North Mole power station’s two transformer enclosures.
This was the second power cut in 10 days, which prompted wide criticism across Gibraltar.
“The fault resulted in a loud bang, which those residing in the vicinity of the power station might have heard, as well as smoke seen emanating from the low voltage side of the affected transformer enclosure,” the Gibraltar Electricity Authority said in a statement.
“The GEA is happy to advise that none of its employees were hurt as a result. The electrical protection in place isolated the fault as expected, but as a result the ‘inhouse’ power supply to most power station auxiliaries, such as the pumps, fans, amongst others, was interrupted thus bringing the whole power plant to a stop.”
The GEA said the second transformer, which has the capacity to power up all the power station auxiliaries, was configured and brought online, allowing engineers to commence restoring power by just after 1am. The utility also announced that power had been restored to all customers by 1.58am.
“It is good practice from an electrical engineering perspective to have more than one power transformer that supplies house load, precisely to counteract the failure of one. We have this morning commenced the investigation into the cause of the failure and will be engaging with the equipment manufacturer. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank you for your continued support,” it was explained in the statement.
Source: Gibraltar Chronicle
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