Reposted from: New York Times 4/9/12
It was described by one participant as a “party for engineers”: a conference of more than 500 specialists brainstorming about a grid so powerful that New York State could embrace wind power, cut electricity rates and close the Indian Point nuclear plant. Yet many participants emphasized obstacles and uncertainties at the meeting on Wednesday in Upper Manhattan. The forum was organized by a state task force on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s proposal to create a robust “energy highway.”
The state is awash in generating capacity because the recession has stunted industrial demand. But the state’s energy infrastructure is ailing, said Gil C. Quinones, president and chief executive of the New York Power Authority and co-chairman of the task force. He noted that 42 percent of the state’s power plants were more than 40 years old, and 22 percent were more than 50 years old.
At some transmission bottlenecks, he said, the state relies on antiquated transmission lines on wooden poles.
Click here for more information: New York Times (engineers convene to seek ways to strengthen NY state’s power grid)
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