Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji/Bicholim, May 16: A major explosion at the Amona 220kV substation in Navelim, Sanquelim, disrupted electricity supply across several parts of Sanquelim and Valpoi for nearly 12 hours on Friday, officials said.

The incident occurred in the early hours of the morning when a transformer at the substation reportedly caught fire amid lightning, heavy rain and strong winds. The blast severely affected the power link between the Amona substation and substations serving Sanquelim and Valpoi, causing widespread outages from around 5 am.

Authorities said electricity was gradually restored across affected regions by approximately 5 pm after intensive repair operations.

The explosion caused extensive damage to key infrastructure within the facility. Officials stated that bus bars used for internal power transmission were badly affected, while insulators were destroyed and transformer oil was completely burnt, leaving the transformer inoperable.

Teams from the fire and emergency services in Bicholim rushed to the site and managed to contain the blaze before it spread further.

The electricity department deployed nearly 80 to 90 personnel, including engineers and technical staff, to restore supply. Restoration work involved back-feeding electricity from alternate sources and utilising balance transformers, as one of the transformers suffered major damage.

Officials also reported that the severe weather conditions led to snapped conductors and uprooted electric poles in certain areas, complicating restoration efforts.

While domestic electricity connections have largely been restored, power officials said industrial consumers are likely to face disruptions for a few more days until full repair work is completed.