A Jan. 8 fire at a neighboring substation did not affect operation of an oil-fired power plant owned by Exelon (NYSE:EXC) in Medway, Mass., an Exelon spokesperson said.
The fire occurred Jan. 8 around 11 a.m. ET at a substation owned by NSTAR on West Street in Medway. The fire was extinguished by 2 p.m. that day. NSTAR is part of Northeast Utilities (NYSE:NU).
NSTAR said no one was injured as a result of the fire that began as a result of a breaker failing. “We’re currently working to replace the circuit breaker cubicle that was damaged by the fire,” an NSTAR spokesperson said Jan. 10.
A report in the Boston Globe said several thousand customers initially lost power as a result of the blaze but virtually all of them had service restored within an hour.
“Exelon’s ability to generate electricity with the three units at the West Medway Station was not affected. In addition, there were no safety or environmental concerns related to the plant,” the Exelon spokesperson said in an email early Jan. 10.
“Exelon Power had units running at Medway in the morning on Wednesday and they were restarted that afternoon,” the Exelon spokesperson said. The West Medway units have been running a lot for the cold weather this week. In January most of the units have been in service a number of hours, the Exelon representative said.
The Medway power station includes three oil-fired peaking units that together can generate 105 MW.
Peaking plants, including oil units, in East and Midwest were driven into service in recent days as a result of the bitter cold temperatures.
