Enel Hydro-Power Plant Blast in Italy Leaves at Least 3 Dead

(Bloomberg) -- A hydro-power plant owned by Enel SpA’s renewable arm Enel Green Power in Northern Italy was rocked by a deadly explosion on Tuesday afternoon.

Enel, Italy’s largest power supplier, said a fire impacted a transformer at its plant in Bargi, in the province of Bologna, without providing further details. Three deaths have been confirmed so far and the number is likely to rise, according to a person familiar with the matter, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to release the information publicly.

The power plant was shut down immediately for safety reasons, but the dam itself wasn’t damaged, according to an Enel Green Power statement. There was no interruption to local power supply.

An official for the Camugnano municipality, a small town in Northern Italy close to the explosion, confirmed the incident in a phone interview. The same official said Camugnano’s mayor is on the ground to provide help with other local officials and public authorities.

The Bargi power plant. which can pump water into the reservoir to balance the grid at times oversupply, is the largest such plant in the Emilia Romagna region. When generating. it can produce 330 megawatts of power, enough to power about 600,000 average European households.

The Chief Executive Officer of Enel Green Power, Salvatore Bernabei, went on site to follow the situation, according to a statement late Tuesday.

The company is collaborating with all the competent authorities and expresses its condolences the personnel involved and their families, the company added.   

(Updates with details from company statement in sixth and seventh paragraph)

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