UPDATE 1-Fire damages Con Ed transformer in Dunwoodie, NY

NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - A fire consumed a 345-kilovolt power transformer at Consolidated Edison Inc's Dunwoodie substation in Yonkers, New York early Wednesday morning, a company spokesman said. He said the fire affected only one of the station's many transformers and did not cause any injuries or cut off service to any customers. Transformers use a type of non hazardous mineral oil for cooling. It was the mineral oil inside the transformer that burned, the spokesman said. The fire started at about 5 a.m. Eastern time and was under control by about 8:45 a.m. on Wednesday, a Con Edison spokeswoman said. With many redundant systems at the substation, the spokesman said the company was able to continue to moving power through the station despite the fire. Electricity traders noted Dunwoodie is a major substation that transports power form Upstate New York and the Indian Point nuclear power plant to New York City and Westchester. The traders noted that soon after the fire started at about 5 a.m., NRG Energy Inc starting generating a few hundred megawatts of power at its 550-megawatt Astoria gas turbines in Queens, New York. Although Con Edison said it was still moving power through Dunwoodie, the traders guessed the state grid operator dispatched the Astoria gas turbines to serve as a backup or to generate power no longer flowing through the damaged transformer. Con Edison could not immediately say how much power could flow through the substation. The spokesman said Con Edison did not know the cause of the fire but would conduct an investigation once the fire was extinguished. The traders guessed it would take Con Edison about 7 to 10 days to replace the transformer if they had a spare on site and longer if they had to bring a spare in from somewhere else. Con Edison, of New York, provides electric, gas and steam service to more than 3 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich) (([e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail])) Keywords: UTILITIES OPERATIONS/CONEDISON DUNWOODIE (For help: Click "Contact Us" in your desk top, click here or call 1-800-738-8377 for Reuters Products and [phone] for Thomson products; For client training: [e-mail]; [phone]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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