Zawiya station explosion causes power outage across west Libya

Large swathes of Libya, including the capital Tripoli, were plunged into darkness overnight following an explosion near the Zawiya power plant, prompting an emergency response to the mass outage.

The incident follows a series of unclaimed drone attacks targeting fuel tanks, oil facilities and other energy infrastructure in western Libya.

Libya’s General Electricity Company issued a statement late on Friday confirming widespread disruption to the grid and the shutdown of several power plants.

“Technical teams have begun working to determine the causes and technical circumstances of the explosion, as well as assessing the condition of the damaged power plants and equipment,” it said, adding that efforts were under way to restore supplies.

Officials did not specify which stations had gone out of service or the full extent of the outage.

Videos shared online showed a thick column of smoke rising from the vicinity of the al-Harsha power plant in Zawiya, around 50 kilometres west of Tripoli, accompanied by the sound of an explosion.

Authorities have not issued an official statement on the nature of the incident.

Zawiya: target of previous attacks

Critical infrastructure in Zawiya has come under attack several times over the past week.

A gasoline tank at the Zawiya oil refinery – the second-largest in the country – was destroyed on Monday in an attack by unknown perpetrators.

On Wednesday, the South Zawiya power substation was heavily damaged in a drone strike, cutting electricity to large areas south of the city. Officials said that the attacks caused “significant damage to the network’s infrastructure” and warned that continued targeting of substations and transmission lines could trigger further blackouts.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, and Libyan authorities have not publicly identified a perpetrator. However, analysts have linked the attacks to escalating competition among western Libya’s rival armed groups for control of Zawiya’s strategically important refinery, fuel networks and associated smuggling economy.