Transformer fire causes power outage at least once every 11 days

Fires in transformer houses cause a power outage at least once every eleven days, Trouw reports based on its own investigation. People involved think that the number of transformer fires is increasing, though there are no official figures on the topic.

Trouw scoured local and regional media for reports of power outages caused by fires in transformer houses. It found 22 transformer fires that occurred this year, leaving whole neighborhoods without power. And that’s only the fires reported on by the media.

Martin Eijsink of the Federation of Electrical Engineering and Willemjan Muysson of the Dutch Fire Service and Veiligheidsregio Rotterdam-Rijnmond both told Trouw that they think the number of fires in transformer houses is increasing. But neither have hard figures to prove a trend. No one registers transformer fires separately.

Figures from Netbeheer Nederland, the trade association for power companies, show that the number of power outages linked to transformer failures has increased by a massive 83 percent in the past five years—from 43 in 2019 to 79 in 2023. These figures include all transformer outages, not just fire-related ones. The total number of power outages also increased significantly—from 22,500 in 2019 to 27,500 last year (+22 percent).

Enexis was the only power company that could give Trouw figures on fires in its transformer houses. Enexis operates the grid in Noord-Brabant, Limburg, Groningen, Drenthe, and Overijssel. On average, 16 of its transformer houses catch fire each year, though there is no clear trend. In 2021, Enexis had 21 fires in transformer houses. Last year, it had eight. They’re usually caused by unnoticed errors by the factory or technician, the company said. Enexis added that it has 57,000 transformer houses in its network, so 16 fires per year isn’t bad.

Netbeheer Nederland is also unconcerned. The organization said the Dutch electricity grid was one of the most reliable in Europe last year. All grid operators are also working on strengthening their electricity grid as the Netherlands moves away from fossil fuels. That means building more transformer houses—there are already over 120,000 in the country. More transformer houses also mean that failures will occur more often, a spokesperson told Trouw.