From the ground up

As summer comes to a close, people I meet have all told me how different this summer felt, thanks to the steady, month-after-month work carried out by Enemalta over the past two years.

Our distribution system is a living network. It requires maintenance, continued improvement. There will be hiccups along the way but our strategic investments are working. Locality by locality, the results are being felt in people’s homes and in daily life.

Enemalta continued its work this summer, quietly but determinedly, to strengthen the backbone of our country’s electricity system. With the support of the ministry, it continued pressing forward with critical infrastructure projects, because we know the country cannot afford complacency; not in summer, not ever.

In 2025 alone, Enemalta has already commissioned 42 new substations and increased the capacity of 65 others. These directly translate into better service, fewer outages, and more reliability for thousands of households and businesses. And we are not slowing down. This work is part of a broader, sustained effort to reinforce the national electricity distribution system.

Our distribution centres—the engine rooms of the national grid—were also strengthened. At Buġibba, we commissioned a new 30MVA transformer, increasing capacity by 50% and improving supply reliability for 25,000 clients in the areas of Buġibba, Qawra, and St Paul’s Bay. Similar capacity upgrades are underway at the St Andrew’s distribution centre, where works are progressing steadily. In Msida, full modernisation is underway, including the complete replacement of outdated equipment. Once completed, the capacity of this centre will double.

In parallel, works on two major new distribution centres in Naxxar and Siġġiewi are progressing rapidly. The cable network for the Naxxar centre has been completed and works are underway to link the Marsa distribution centre with the new Siġġiewi centre. The latter involves the laying of 70km of cables. Both centres are expected to be operational by June 2026 and will directly benefit 24,000 Enemalta clients in the surrounding areas.

The reinforcement of Malta’s energy backbone continued also through strategic expansion works. At the Mosta distribution centre, extension works have begun to expand switchgear at the 33kV level, increasing both capacity and system flexibility.

A new 132kV high-voltage link between the Magħtab terminal station and the Mosta distribution centre is also underway. This project will be essential to the national grid once the second interconnector between Malta and Sicily is commissioned, strengthening the resilience of our national grid on a high voltage level.

But the 2025 milestones were built on strong foundations. The previous year, over 83km of new medium-voltage underground cables were installed in various localities across Malta and Gozo. This was one of the largest single-year deployments of new cables in recent history and formed the first phase of a broader national reinforcement plan.

In the second phase, we implemented an accelerated rollout of additional connections between distribution centres and substations, including 63km of medium-voltage underground cables and over 11km of new low-voltage cables.

Throughout 2024, we also commissioned 166 new low-voltage feeders. That year, Enemalta delivered 57 new substations and carried out upgrades or modernisation works on 76 others. This helped reduce fault risk across the grid. Simultaneously, we launched a major EU-funded initiative to lay 15km of new underground cables in Birkirkara, Marsaskala, and Mġarr. These works are now in their final stages and will further stabilise the network in some of the country’s fastest-growing localities.

All of these projects are part of a long-term strategic vision; one that isn’t driven by crisis, but by careful planning and anticipation of future needs. Studies are already being carried out for further expansion of the distribution system to meet demand in the coming years. We are assessing the need for additional distribution centres and even preparing the groundwork for a new high-voltage link between Magħtab and Gozo, which would represent a step-change in Gozo’s energy security and resilience.

Digital modernisation is also part of our vision. A new low-voltage control room is currently under development. Once operational, it will allow Enemalta engineers and technicians to monitor and manage the low-voltage network remotely from the Marsa administrative building, ensuring faster response times and better real-time visibility of network conditions.

This is not work that lends itself to fanfare. It is rarely visible, and yet it is absolutely essential. It is the difference between stability and disruption. Between confidence and anxiety. Between political leadership that plans ahead, and politics that waits for problems before acting.

The demands on our national electricity system are increasing; from economic growth, record tourism, rising population, electrification of transport, and new development. It reflects a country on the move. Our responsibility is to ensure that the energy system keeps up.

This is why we did not rest this summer. And why we will not pause in the months and years ahead. Our energy future depends on resilience, reliability, and responsibility—it’s what we’re delivering.