Energy Crunch Predicted for New York Metro Region

Utility companies are scrambling to meet a projected power shortage in the New York metro area that industry experts fear could mean summertime blackouts for 400,000 to 500,000 homes by 2008.

"There could be a problem in the system. It could include things like brownouts and blackouts," said Garry Brown, spokesman for the New York Independent System Operator, a power wholesaler.

But Brown and other industry executives said they're confident the likely shortfall will be handled through conservation or additional power generation.

"There are a variety of things in the works that should be able to address this problem," Brown said.

Brown's group — a nonprofit organization that buys power from generating companies and sells it to retail utilities like Con Ed — projects a shortfall of 500 megawatts in the New York metropolitan area if projected demand isn't met.

Figuring that one megawatt of electricity is enough for 800 to 1,000 homes, the shortage could render powerless 400,000 to 500,000 homes in New York City, Long Island, Westchester and the lower Hudson Valley.

Counting on conservation to make up for the shortfall is inadequate and wishful thinking. Homeowners and businesses alike are ever more reliant on computers and other technology items, which draw power. While each item may be more energy efficient than earlier generations, the fact that more households and businesses have these items means that more power is needed.

Running new power lines to bolster the grid is one aspect of a comprehensive energy policy for the region, but there have been problems - in one instance, a power line from West Virginia to New York is being hit on NIMBY grounds. In another, Connecticut was arguing with a power company that sought to run power lines under the Long Island Sound to Long Island.

Meanwhile, there is limited power generation options within the region itself and New York's siting laws have made the construction of new plants prohibitive. For those who continue to clamor for the closure of Indian Point, they have been unable to explain how and where the power generated by that nuclear power plant would be made up elsewhere.

It's a quandry that affects the competitiveness of the region against those that have better energy distribution and generation networks. The tri-state region needs to get ahead of the problem, but the federal government must do a better job as well. It's criminal that the governments cannot improve the national energy distribution grid and come up with satisfactory energy generation plans that are not so heavily reliant on fossil fuels.