Where the reporting mentions a part, transformer is mentioned most often: in 554 of the 1150 entries, then cable or overhead line (182) and switchgear or breaker (59). In 456 entries the reporting mentions none of these parts. A mention is not a finding of fault.
Parts mentioned in the reporting
Part mentioned
Entries
Transformer
554
Cable or overhead line
182
Switchgear or breaker
59
Substation building or control room
15
Reactor or capacitor
10
Not stated
456
Component and mode, from the classified records
Component and mode: 102 grid infrastructure records on the register have an approved record with a controlled component and mode, and 69 of those have no mode established in any public source. The component and mode of each record are in the paid record; these are the counts.
Component
Records
Mode, where established
Transformer
55
electrical fault 10, external event 5
Switchgear or breaker
20
electrical fault 6, external event 2, control or software 1
Cable or connection
4
external event 2, human or procedural 1, electrical fault 1
Other part
1
external event 1
Not stated
22
external event 4
Questions answered
What fails most often in grid infrastructure?
Where the reporting mentions a part, transformer is mentioned most often: in 554 of the 1150 entries, then cable or overhead line (182) and switchgear or breaker (59). In 456 entries the reporting mentions none of these parts. A mention is not a finding of fault. Component and mode: 102 grid infrastructure records on the register have an approved record with a controlled component and mode, and 69 of those have no mode established in any public source. Each entry says what its sources established and nothing more.
What causes substation fires?
390 of the 1150 grid infrastructure entries are fires or thermal events. 699 electrical, 390 thermal / fire, 50 other, 6 mechanical, 3 near-miss, 2 gas release across the whole set. Where a fire service, regulator or operator stated a cause, the entry carries it and says who said it; where none did, the entry says so.
How many grid infrastructure incidents are on the register?
1150 entries from 87 countries, 2001 to 2026, 82 of them classed as major. Every entry is written from published reporting with its sources and is free to read.
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Every entry
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.
An explosion was reported on the evening of Monday 2 November at the Constitución substation in the Lagunillas municipality of Zulia state, Venezuela. According to reports, the incident happened shortly after 7.30pm and left much of Libertad parish without...
Local media report that an explosion and fire occurred at the Federación substation in Libertad parish, Lagunillas municipality, Zulia state, Venezuela, which reportedly left several sectors of Ciudad Ojeda without electricity. Videos shared on social media...
On Monday 2 November 2026, an incident at Pepco's I Street Substation in the Foggy Bottom neighbourhood of Washington, DC, cut power to more than 1,000 customers. Pepco said about 1,100 customers were affected. The DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services...
A 59-year-old man died on Sunday 1 November 2026 after receiving an electric shock inside a fenced transformer station operated by Swiss Federal Railways (FFS) near Cham railway station in Canton Zug. Zug police were alerted shortly after 10am and found the...
On Sunday afternoon, 1 November 2026, a large-scale power cut affected the south of the city of Salzburg and the northern Tennengau area of Austria. According to Salzburg AG, the outage originated from a transformer that caught fire at the Elsbethen...
Drone strikes in the days before and including Sunday, 1 November 2026 (the source gives relative days, so exact dates are inferred), hit electricity facilities in army-held areas of Sudan. The government and the rights group Emergency Lawyers blamed the...
In the early hours of Wednesday 28 October 2026, drones reportedly attacked the city of Al Manaqil in Sudan's Al Jazirah State. Footage circulating online showed a fire at a fuel depot. Misbar compared Sentinel-2 satellite images from 23 and 28 October and...
In the early hours of Wednesday 28 October 2026, drones reportedly struck Al Manaqil in Sudan's Al Jazirah State. Reported targets included the city's power station and transmission substation, a fuel distribution station and a fuel depot east of the city....
Misbar reported on 31 October 2026 that drones attacked infrastructure in Al Manaqil, a city in Sudan's Al Jazirah State, in the early hours of 28 October. Footage circulating online showed a fire at a fuel depot after the attack. Local sources told Sudan...
According to a Hindi-language local report published on 30 October 2026, rain linked to a storm reported as Cyclone Arnab disrupted the electricity supply in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. The report says power was cut for several hours in areas including Shahpur,...
On 30 October 2026, rain disrupted the electricity supply in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, according to a Jagran report. Several localities, including Shahpur, Rapti Nagar, Durgabari, Surajkund, Rustampur and Rani Bagh, lost power for hours. The report...
Overnight, downed power lines crossed Highway 26 at Murray Boulevard in Portland, Oregon, and some lines landed on and around a black Bronco. All lanes of the highway were closed at Murray Boulevard for several hours while Portland General Electric crews...
A fire broke out at an electrical cabin on Via Fontana in Capriati a Volturno, Caserta province, Italy, at about 3am during the night of 29 to 30 October 2026. Residents saw the flames and alerted the emergency number 115. A crew from the Piedimonte Matese...
On a Friday morning around 9am, a cable on a transformer in the Vijay Chowk feeder area, served by the University substation in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, caught fire. The fire was intense enough that the fire brigade was called. According to the report, the...
Homes in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, lost power on the evening of 29 October 2026 after an electrical transformer caught fire on Hensington Road. Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service attended and extinguished the fire. Thames Valley Police's Woodstock...
On Wednesday 28 October 2026, a contractor cutting a transformer with a torch ignited residual oil inside an otherwise empty warehouse at 5 Cut St. in Alton, Illinois. Alton Fire Department was dispatched at 3:52 pm to a reported commercial structure fire and...
At about 9:50 am on 28 October 2026, roughly 10,000 homes were left without power in western Yokkaichi, parts of Komono and parts of Suzuka in Mie Prefecture. According to Chubu Electric Power Grid, based in Nagoya, the outage was caused by a work error...
On Tuesday 27 October 2026, a failure on the national power grid cut electricity in eastern Dhaka and parts of Chattogram at around 12.45 pm, according to Prothom Alo English. Several power plants shut down following the grid failure and began restarting one...
On a Tuesday around midday, a fire destroyed the electrical substation serving the village of Alacranes, in the municipality of Unión de Reyes, Matanzas province, according to Radio Unión Matanzas as reported by CiberCuba. About 3,700 customers lost supply...
On Tuesday evening, 27 October 2026, a traction power substation at MARTA's Brookhaven station on the Gold Line in DeKalb County, Georgia, caught fire, according to MARTA and a report by WSB-TV. MARTA said rail service was disrupted and that all patrons were...
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