The Con Edison employees I have spoken with, like linemen and equipment installers, say we are in extreme danger because they don’t know how Yonkers will be able to supply the amount of power that is going to be required in the next few years. And while new transmission facilities are being built, it is not happening on schedule.
For example, there is new trunk line coming from Canada called, the Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE). The 339 mile-long CHPE line could deliver 1,200 megawatts of clean energy. That is enough to power one million New York City homes–about 20% of the city’s electric demands today. While, projected to be finished by 2026, like most projects, CHPE lags behind schedule.
Some fear that we will start having severe power shortfalls as early as the fall of 2025. A NYICO report says that by 2025 we may have over 400,000 homes requiring power than we will have the capacity to supply until some new source comes online.
And while we have “peaker” plants supplying power in peak demand times, many of these have aged out and we are not replacing them.
New all-electric developments
New developments in Yonkers that are completely electric just add to the growing demand. Each apartment in new multi-family buildings is supplying their own heat, hot water, and cooling via high-amperage electric devices. Therefore, these all-electric apartments typically have a 200 amp service. This is more electricity than it takes to supply an entire single-family gas-supplemented home.
As more and more of these buildings come online, we can anticipate brownouts and blackouts during winter months. Outages in the summer are surely uncomfortable. But, if this happens in the winter, the frozen building could see its water pipes burst. Damage like that could require months to fully repair.
For example, this year at 79 Alexander Street a major water pipe on the second floor burst. Both gas and electric services were shut off in some apartments for over two weeks. In total, 88 apartments suffered servere inconveniences as repairs dragged on for months.
If this had happened during the winter in just this one building, we would have been looking for housing for people from these 88 units. And if this happens in multiple buildings at the same time, the city could be in great danger.
What can the citizens of Yonkers do?
The only thing in our power is to demand action from our elected officials. At all levels from our City, County, State, and up to our Federal officials, we must ensure that the infrastructure exists to provide the necessary power we soon need. Now, the hard part is paying for all this necessary infrastructure.
With budget deficits for the City and School District reaching towards 100 millions dollars, how can we afford to pay for the necessary infrastructure? The reality is we pay now or we pay later. If officials choose to play politics; bending to whichever way the wind is blowing rather than responsibly looking out for our interests, then we need to be aware of that. And be aware that our only recourse would be to vote them out at the next elections.
Environmental concerns have played a large part in progressing toward an all-electric power system. And that’s a good thing…as long as we don’t put the lives of our citizens in danger to achieve it. I will say that it will only take one blackout in the winter to derail the environmental movement for many years. So, care must be taken to not force the implementation before our infrastructure can bear it.
