UPDATE 3-Fire damages Con Ed transformer in Dunwoodie, NY

(Updates with company comments)

NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - A fire consumed a 345-kilovolt power transformer at Consolidated Edison Inc's (ED.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Dunwoodie substation in Yonkers, New York early Wednesday morning, a company spokesman said.

He said the fire affected only one of the station's many transformers and did not cause any injuries or cut off service to any customers.

The company expected to replace the transformer over the next several weeks, "certainly before the end of the year," the spokesman said, noting the timing depended on how much work needed to be done to prepare the site for the new transformer.

Con Edison said it did not have a transformer at Dunwoodie but had one at a storage facility in Queens, New York. Electricity traders guessed it would take seven to ten days to replace the transformer once it was at Dunwoodie.

The spokesman said demand for power was currently low compared to the peak summer air conditioning season so the loss of the transformer now would not affect customer service.

Traders noted Dunwoodie is a major substation that transports power form Upstate New York, including the Indian Point nuclear power plant, to New York City, Westchester and Long Island.

With many redundant systems at the substation, the spokesman said the company was able to continue to moving power through the station despite the fire.

The traders noted that soon after the fire started at about 5 a.m. Eastern time, NRG Energy Inc (NRG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) starting generating a few hundred megawatts of power at its 550-megawatt Astoria gas turbines in Queens.