Malta drills second 225MW Sicily cable

A drill is boring through coastal rock in Malta, cutting an underground path for a high-voltage cable to reach the sea (Lovin Malta). The cable will run undersea to Sicily, giving Malta a second connection to Europe's electricity grid and adding 225 MW of import capacity (Interconnect Malta). For a country that already depends on a single cable from Sicily for much of its imported power, this is backup infrastructure, built so that one cable failure does not leave the island short.

Why two cables change the maths

Malta imports electricity from Sicily through one existing link. When that cable trips or shuts down for maintenance, Malta falls back on domestic gas-fired generators. A second cable means the island can still draw power from Italy's wider grid even with the first link out (Terna).

The second cable also helps with solar and wind. Small grids struggle when renewable output swings: too much sun at midday, not enough at dusk. With only one connection to a larger system, operators have few options for sending surplus power away or pulling extra in. A bigger pipe to the continental grid gives Malta room to absorb those swings, because Italian and European operators can help balance what Malta alone cannot (European Commission).

Cables do not replace local reserves, though. Spain's experience with the Balearic and Canary Islands is instructive: even after building interconnections, Spanish planners still identified a need for hundreds of megawatts of additional power that can be switched on when imports or renewables fall short (El Periódico de la Energía). Cables reduce isolation. They do not eliminate it.

Why this won't cut your electricity bill

Every infrastructure project brings the promise of cheaper power. The evidence here does not support it.

What households actually pay is a mix of wholesale energy costs, network charges, taxes, levies and government subsidies (Eurostat). A more secure grid can leave retail prices unchanged if construction costs are recovered through tariffs, if imported power turns out no cheaper than domestic generation, or if the government manages prices politically.

Cyprus's energy minister has made this distinction openly. He backs the Great Sea Interconnector linking Cyprus to Greece on security grounds, while cautioning that price reductions should not be treated as guaranteed (Powergame). That project's estimated cost has nearly doubled since planning began, and Cypriot critics question whether the expense is justified even while accepting the strategic logic (Kathimerini Cyprus). Malta will face the same argument.

Who gains and who pays

The gains and costs fall on different groups. Maltese households and firms benefit if reliability improves and blackouts become rarer. Taxpayers bear the construction bill, which remains hard to pin down publicly, though figures around €300 million have circulated (Interconnect Malta, European Commission). Domestic gas-plant operators lose running hours as imports grow, though they keep value as emergency backup.

The project fits a wider EU push. Several member states are set to miss the bloc's 15% interconnection target (the share of a country's generation capacity that can flow across borders), and the Commission has urged peripheral systems to build physical links to the continental grid (European Commission). The drilling now underway is an insurance policy. It makes Malta's power supply harder to knock out, even if it cannot promise to make it cheaper.