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A Power and Water Corporation worker has been injured in an explosion at a major electrical substation in Darwin.
The incident happened at the Berrimah substation just before 8:00am today and has led to widespread power outages in Darwin.
According to police, a man aged in his 50s was rushed to Royal Darwin Hospital suffering from minor burns to his arm and leg and was in a stable condition.
Emergency crews have started their investigations to find out what caused the explosion, Power and Water spokesperson Malcolm Conway said.
"They are beginning to look at isolations and things we have to perform before we can start working on it; it's probably got a fair bit of smoke and carbon damage, but we will be pulling things apart to get access to the switch gear and investigate it fully," he said.
Power and Water estimates about 4,700 homes in Anula, Holtze, Berrimah, Winnelie and Leanyer were without power when eight feeders stopped working.
The entire substation was shut down as a result of the explosion and will not be re-energised until after an investigation.
It is not known what caused the fault and investigative teams will need to dismantle heavy machinery to begin testing.
Due to the risk of a secondary explosion, investigators have not put a clear timeframe on when the investigation will be complete.
Power and Water said residents should be prepared to experience more power outages as supply is restored to the main substation.
"There will be an increase in minor power outages while we adjust the system as loads shifts, sometimes there are loads that may be higher than forecast," spokesman Malcolm Conway said.
"Depending on the damage, we will have parts of it back up and running anywhere between 48 hours and a week, it's far too early to determine when it will be back up and running," he said.
Power has since be restored to the affected properties.
Topics: electricity-energy-and-utilities, disasters-and-accidents, berrimah-0828
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