Due to the storm that hit the area at the start of the week, the island of Tabarca found itself without electricity for days. Only thanks to the work of more than 30 Iberdrola staff, and with the collaboration of the Army, was power restored.
In a statement, Iberdrola reported that, thanks to the collaboration of the Army through a large-capacity helicopter, they have managed to bring a 325 kilovolt-ampere (kVA) generator set to Tabarca to provide the island with sufficient power for Easter.
Thus, they have highlighted that the excessive weight of this unit complicated transport by ship due to the draft of the port of Tabarca.
They have explained that this generator set joins the other five generators of approximately 100 kVA that the company has moved by boat since Wednesday, when the maritime storm subsided.
In this way, it has been possible to provide the island of Tabarca with sufficient power for normal operation and to be able to face the Easter tourist season.
At the same time, they have affirmed that this Friday, through specialists from a diving company, work has begun to locate the exact point where the submarine cable fault is located, approximately one kilometre away from the island, at the time that they have ensured that once the cause is determined, the process of repairing the line will be studied and evaluated.
Last Monday morning, Iberdrola detected an incident in the power supply network to the island of Tabarca and discovered that the incident was between Santa Pola and the island.
“To continue with the location work, the company needed to manoeuvre in the island’s electrical installations but, due to the maritime storm that was taking place at that time, it was impossible for the operators to access by boat,” they highlighted in a statement.
Thus, they have indicated that the company managed to hire a helicopter on Monday to enable staff to access the island, since the maritime storm continued, and as soon as possible it transferred three operators who, once there, were able to confirm that the fault It is located in the submarine cable approximately one kilometre from the island.
However, the sea storm prevented the generator sets from being taken by sea since, due to their weight, their transfer by ship was not possible.
On Wednesday morning, once the maritime storm subsided, the company was able to transport two generator sets by ship, as well as seven workers, and began to replenish the electricity supply on the island around 1:00 p.m.
