Summer storm sparks Majorca power cuts

Demand for electricity in Majorca and Minorca reached a record high on Wednesday night, but yesterday parts of the islands were hit by power cuts for the second consecutive day. Alaro, for example, was without power for six hours on Wednesday and suffered another cut yesterday, as did the multi-storey car park at Palma's Son San Joan airport. Other outlying areas of Majorca were also hit as a storm swept across the west of the island early yesterday afternoon and a spokesperson for electricity company GESA said that some areas, including Sencelles, Binissalem and the Port de Sóller were without power for up to three hours. However at 18.00 hrs GESA said that power supplies were back to normal. The heavy rain and high winds also affected some of the high tension cables in the heart of the island, but GESA said that thanks to the quick response by engineers, the electricity supply was re-established as quickly as possible. At 21.02 on Wednesday night, a new record was set for power demand on the Majorcan and Minorca electricity grids with demand being 6.6 per cent higher than on August 29 last year. A report published this week revealed that demand for power in Palma rose by 55 per cent between 1995 and 2000, but this summer power company GESA appears to have been able to meet the rising annual demand with far greater success and far fewer power cuts than last summer.