Fault in high voltage network causes total blackout

Residents in the area of Governor’s Parade, Arengo’s Palace, Willis’ Road and the East side are still without power at 1pm after a Gibraltar-wide blackout in the early hours of Friday morning.

At around 3.45am Gibraltar was plunged into darkness after the high voltage network “experienced an earth fault”, the Gibraltar Electrical Authority said.

While the majority of Gibraltar received power again by 6am, these areas disconnected whilst engineers continue to work to identify the exact location of the fault.

“An earth fault is a type of electrical fault where a power cable or other conductor breaks, and comes into contact with the earth, or any conductive material in contact with the earth,” a spokesperson said.

“When this happens, it can cause damage to equipment, interrupt the continuity of supply, and may even pose a danger to our employees working on the network.”

“There are several reasons that can cause an earth fault.”

“Some of these reasons include insulation failure, physical damage to underground cables or an overload of cables which can result in conductors getting cut and falling into a ground point, and natural disturbances shifting cables and equipment.”

“By 6am various elements of our High Voltage network had been reconfigured in order to restore power to the majority of our customers.”

This is the second overnight powercut this week.

Further information will be provided as soon as this is available, the GEA said.