The fire after the failure of a transformer Sunday outside Talen Energy's Lower Mount Bethel Township plant was out by 10 p.m. but the plant won't return to normal operation for weeks, a company spokesman said Monday morning.
No one was hurt in the 7:40 p.m. incident but as the device failed it did make a loud noise which many in the area took for an explosion, spokesman Todd Martin said.
Residents up and down the Delaware River in Pennsylvania and New Jersey said the blast was followed by a sound similar to a roaring jet engine.
Talen Energy owns the gas-fired power generating plant in Lower Mount Bethel.
PPL Electric Utilities, which transmits electricity to customers, uses energy produced from the plant. PPL spun off its power-generating business to Talen last year.
The transformer belongs to Talen and is tied to its steam turbine operation, Martin said. After initially saying the plant was operating normally Sunday night, Martin on Monday morning said the plant will be offline for a few weeks as an investigation continues.
The plant is currently in "safe shutdown mode," he said.
It wasn't immediately clear why the transformer failed.
Firefighters called to Martins Creek plant
Firefighters were called Sunday night to the natural gas-fired plant along the Delaware River in Lower Mount Bethel Twp.
The ensuing fire was handled by plant employees and first responders, Martin said. Lower Mount Bethel Township firefighters were in charge at the scene, a Northampton County emergency dispatch supervisor said Sunday night.
Martin praised the effective response of the numerous volunteer firefighters.
Any possible environmental impact of the transformer failure was contained, Martin said. The plant is off Depues Ferry Road, along the Delaware River.
A transformer increases or decreases voltage. The device that failed is similar to transformers that can been seen on utility poles that limit voltage before electricity enters homes in residential neighborhoods, but this one was far larger.
The plant in Lower Mount Bethel was powered down during the event and electricity within the plant was restored, Martin said.
The plant provides power to the regional grid, but Martin wasn't certain if the incident had an impact on PPL customers. There is redundancy in the grid, so the loss of the plant's contribution will likely be handled as it would during planned maintenance, Martin said. Specific questions on the impact to the grid would need to be asked of the PJM Interconnection, he said.
While the plant isn't generating electricity, the company will check to see what else may need maintenance, according to Martin.
Joe Nixon, a spokesman for Allentown-based PPL, said none of the company's customers was affected by the incident and they won't be impacted by the shutdown.
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