Power fault will not be repaired until Tuesday

While there were calls for the resignation of the chairman of the gas and electricity company GESA yesterday, Bartomeu Reus, said that the fault which caused the Majorca-wide power cut on Thursday, will not be fully repaired until Tuesday. However, Reus gave Balearic Chief Minister, Francesc Antich, his assurances that there will not be any more problems with the supply of power from the Es Murterar power station in Alcudia. Reus was called for a meeting with Antich yesterday morning as the Chief Minister wanted to know exactly what had caused the power cut which left over 400'000 clients, in Majorca and Minorca, with no power for up to four hours. Antich said after the meeting that Reus will not be able to provide a full report until Tuesday, once the fault is repaired, at which point the two will meet again in order to draw up a “global solution” to the Balearics' power problem. The Alcudia power plant is the region's main source of electricity and a short circuit at a Llubi sub-station went through the whole system. The government is already concerned that power production at the Alcudia plant is reaching its limit with the peak periods for demand yet to come in the middle of August. Any expansion of the Alcudia plant and the supply network will be a costly one and the finance will have to come from central government. One solution is to install a secondary supply cable between Alcudia and Palma.