SASCHA WILSON
There was an explosion at the T&TEC Reform Substation this morning, after a medium voltage cable malfunctioned. The incident caused a disruption in the electricity supply to customers, but no one was injured.
Video footage of the plumes of smoke, fire and rumbling noises from the plant has been circulating on social media.
T&TEC's Area Manager, Kelvin Ramsook, told Guardian Media the incident occurred around 1 am, after a 12 kV cable failed.
"What it was, was a cable failure that we have since isolated, and we’ve transferred all the customers, and we are conducting repairs to the cable," he said.
He gave assurances, however, that the system has a built-in safety mechanism in the event of a failure.
"Once you have a fault of that nature the system is designed to de-energize the circuit so it is operating properly, and the circuit was de-energized," he said.
Ramsook said it took about two hours to restore electricity to customers at Bonne Aventure and other areas in Gasparillo.
