Widespread Power Cuts Hit Malta and Gozo Following LNG Plant Trip

2026-09-09T20:00:32.681+00:00 · Updated 2026-09-10T08:01:26.461+00:00

Extensive power cuts hit numerous localities across Malta and Gozo on Wednesday evening, plunging homes, commercial establishments, and public roads into darkness.

The widespread blackouts triggered an immediate surge in public complaints. Outage monitoring platform Dawl.app recorded 895 separate reports within a short window as residents from various parts of the country flagged sudden losses of electricity.

National energy provider Enemalta issued an official statement at approximately 7:15 pm, confirming that technicians were working to restore the network. The corporation explained that the cuts resulted from an unexpected generation interruption linked to one of the local liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants.

Public frustration was further heightened when Enemalta's official website became inaccessible during the peak of the blackout, preventing customers from accessing outage maps or reporting faults directly through the portal.

Localities across both islands reported flickering lights and intermittent supply drops before total disconnection occurred in multiple residential centres.

Enemalta stated that emergency procedures were initiated promptly following the plant trip, with engineers steadily reconnecting affected distribution feeders to restore supply to the grid.

Enemalta has confirmed that the electricity cuts affecting multiple localities across Malta and Gozo on Wednesday evening were caused by an interruption at gas facilities serving the liquefied natural gas (LNG) power station. The failure occurred at approximately 6:00 pm, interrupting supply to key generation units.

The disruption resulted in the temporary loss of around 200 megawatts of generating capacity across the national grid. The sudden shortfall forced automated load shedding across several towns and villages to prevent widespread network damage.

Technicians activated emergency standby generating plants to replace the lost capacity and balance the grid. Enemalta crews worked through the evening to stabilise the system and progressively restore electricity to affected residential and business customers.