Every grid incident in public reporting that names switchgear or a circuit breaker: fires, explosions and the outages that followed, each with its sources. Free to read.
51 entries so far, 22 since 2024. Confirm your email and every substation and transformer incident on the register arrives as a spreadsheet (CSV), free. One email when a new incident is reported, at most two a day, plus a Monday digest. Free, no account needed, unsubscribe in one click.
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Newest incident first. Search them, or narrow them by country, year or severity. Each entry is free to read, with what happened and its sources; the record behind it adds the cause where it is established, the part that failed, the downtime and the loss.
On 18 October 2026, a further power failure occurred at the Linden substation in the Dithmarschen district of western Schleswig-Holstein, operated by SH Netz (Schleswig-Holstein Netz). The failure followed an earlier power cut in the west of the state and led...
On Thursday 15 October 2026, at about 4 p.m., a landslide incapacitated the Ketchikan Public Utilities Ward Cove Electrical Substation in Ketchikan. According to the City of Ketchikan public information officer, rain and wind caused trees, rocks and mud near...
A 33 kV source breaker at the Chaumuhani grid substation in Begumganj, Noakhali, was damaged in an explosion at around 8:30 pm on a Friday, as reported on 27 September 2026. The breaker caught fire and shut down the 33 kV line from Chaumuhani to Maijdi,...
The record behind each entry: the manufacturer, integrator and operator, root cause, failure mode, downtime, losses and every source.
A technical fault led to an explosion in a medium voltage current transformer and breaker unit at the Chinchwad Extra High Voltage Substation in Chinchwad, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Maharashtra, operated by Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission, triggering...
A circuit breaker at Mylapore substation, a 230kV power substation operated by TNPDCL in Mylapore, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, exploded during evening operating hours, triggering a fire. Two utility engineers working at the site suffered minor burns and were...
A fire broke out in the early hours of 18 June at a City Power mini substation on Italian Road in Newlands, Johannesburg. Emergency services responded and contained the fire before it spread further. An assessment found extensive damage to an indoor 500kVA...
A fire broke out at an electricity substation near the Juas water treatment works on Les Juqueurs Road, Vale, Guernsey, at around 11:50 BST. Guernsey Electricity said switchgear at the substation had failed, triggering the fire. Most electricity supply in the...
A fire broke out in the main transformer at the 220 KV power station in Sector-72, Gurugram, Haryana, on a Friday evening at around 7:50 pm. According to Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), a technical fault caused an oil leak in the current transfer...
A 220 kV current transformer at the Sector 72 substation in Gurgaon developed a fault at around 7.50pm on 22 May 2026. The malfunction caused an explosion and fire before the protective breaker could trip, leading to the shutdown of both circuits feeding...
On a Wednesday evening in Millington, Tennessee, a set of party balloons flew into overhead power lines connected to a transformer on Bill Knight Road. The contact tripped a power pole breaker and ignited a small grass fire near the pole around 6:20pm. The...
Shortly after midday, a loud explosion was heard at the Good Hope Substation on the East Coast of Demerara, operated by Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL). The substation, a key interconnection point between the Demerara and Berbice systems, went offline...
In the early hours of Thursday, 25 December 2025, a fire broke out at the Olivenhoutbosch substation operated by the City of Tshwane. The blaze was attributed to cable theft, which damaged critical electrical equipment including cabling and switchgear. One...
A fire broke out at a substation breaker, described as being about the size of a car, near Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. The fire caused more than 11,000 Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) customers to lose power, including the Memphis Zoo, which...
On a clear day with no severe weather, an electrical substation operated by Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) on University Street, north of Hunter Avenue in Midtown Memphis, erupted in flames, sending bright blue sparks and thick smoke into the air. The...
An explosion occurred at around 5am inside the central circuit breakers of a substation near the village of Nikitas, southwest of Morphou, in the Turkish Cypriot administered north of Cyprus. The blast caused serious damage to the substation's transformer....
A fire broke out on 3 July 2025 in the ripple control room of an electricity substation serving Palm Ridge and Sky City in Ekurhuleni, South Africa. The blaze damaged electrical breakers housed in the control room, cutting power to thousands of households and...
An explosion occurred at the Main Supply 66kV substation operated by the City of Ekurhuleni, on the Meter Panel 1 side, causing a municipal breaker to trip overnight. The explosion severely impacted the entire 66kV ring network supplying Kempton Park, leaving...
Veld fires under high-transmission lines in City Deep caused the Prospect Substation in Elandsfontein to trip on Tuesday night, as reported on 7 August 2024. The flames caused two 88 kV breakers on transformers 1 and 3 to trip. Several substations fed from...
On 10 April 2024, a fire broke out at the Raslouw substation in Tshwane, South Africa, at about 11:50. Tshwane Emergency Services said the fire was promptly extinguished. A breaker inside the substation caught fire, and the substation had to be disconnected....
A switchgear fire on a ground transformer on Highway 30, east of Carroll, Iowa, began shortly before noon on Monday 5 February 2024. The fire caused a power outage affecting 576 customers. According to the local broadcaster, the outage affected customers in...
Counted from the register on 27 October 2026. The 51 entries whose own reporting names this, of 1,077 substation and transformer entries in all. A mention in the reporting, not a finding of fault.
As the register classes each entry, from its sources.
| What happened | Entries | |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical | 40 | |
| Thermal / fire | 8 | |
| Other | 2 | |
| Mechanical | 1 |
Counted from the words of each entry's own reporting: an entry counts under each part it names, and "Not stated" means the public reporting named none. A mention, not a finding of fault.
| Part named | Entries | |
|---|---|---|
| Switchgear or breaker | 51 | |
| Transformer | 24 | |
| Cable or overhead line | 16 | |
| Substation building or control room | 3 |
| Country | Entries | |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 17 | |
| South Africa | 16 | |
| India | 5 | |
| United Kingdom | 2 | |
| Germany | 1 | |
| Bangladesh | 1 | |
| Guernsey | 1 | |
| Guyana | 1 | |
| Cyprus | 1 | |
| Malta | 1 | |
| Canada | 1 | |
| Singapore | 1 | |
| United States Virgin Islands | 1 | |
| Australia | 1 | |
| Tanzania | 1 |
Type up to eight company names (operators, owners, manufacturers, contractors) and your email address. The brief comes back by email: every published switchgear and breaker entry that names them, with its sources, and a plain line where a name has no entries. Free, once, no account.
The register holds 51 switchgear and breaker entries from public reporting, 2013 to 2026, in 15 countries. 8 of them are fires or thermal events; the rest are electrical, other, mechanical and other incidents. Each entry lists its sources.
Where the public reporting names a part, the most common are switchgear or breaker (51), transformer (24), cable or overhead line (16). 0 of the 51 entries name no part. The register does not guess a cause; where a fire service, regulator or the operator states one, the entry carries it and says who said it.
In the reporting the register has found, United States (17), South Africa (16), India (5) have the most entries. 2 are in the United Kingdom. That partly reflects where the assets are built and where the press reports on them.
Yes. Sign up on this page for switchgear and breaker incidents: one email when a new incident is reported, at most two a day, plus a Monday digest. Free, no account, and every substation and transformer incident on the register arrives as a spreadsheet when you confirm.
Public reporting on switchgear and breaker incidents often names the site but rarely the make, the model or the cause. The register does not guess them. Where a fire service, regulator or the operator states one, the entry carries it and says who said it.
51 entries so far, 22 since 2024. Confirm your email and every substation and transformer incident on the register arrives as a spreadsheet (CSV), free. One email when a new incident is reported, at most two a day, plus a Monday digest. Free, no account needed, unsubscribe in one click.
We will also email you about the register's paid records and plans, at most once a week and three times in all. You can stop these at any time. By subscribing you agree to the privacy policy.