NYC Blackout 101: Distributed Generation

All of you folks in Queens probably got here by googling "solar energy" after the power finally came back on yesterday. You're thinking, "There's gotta be a better way,"

Well, there is. Solar energy in New York City would have prevented the blackout. Here's why:

The reason you didn’t have electricity for the last two weeks is that most power utilities, including Con Ed, operate through Centralized Generation. Whenever you have electricity being generated through one centralized power plant, the grid is always going to be susceptible to failures. All it takes is one power line going down, and all of a sudden twenty thousand people can be caught without electricity.

Distributed Generation (DG) means that power supplies are decentralized, and generated on a smaller scale in numerous locations. DG makes the grid more reliable by easing the burden of transmission and distribution. Power lines won't be as likely to fail because they won't be carrying such heavy loads, and if a power line does fail, it will only affect a small area.

Solar energy is a prime example of DG. Buildings produce their own electricity on site, cutting down on the amount of power that needs to be transported from distant power sources. New York City gets more than enough sunlight to meet its energy needs, and solar modules even produce electricity when the weather is cloudy.


This 210 kilowatt solar array on top of the Stillwell Ave Subway Station produces 250,000 kilowatt hours per year

The concept of Distributed Generation is gathering momentum, and changing the ways cities and utilities are thinking about power. Most power companies realize they got burned by the blackout in 2003, and they’d love to not have to worry about something like that happening again.

Believe it or not, the blackout in 2003 wasn’t caused by a lack of power – the grid was actually operating at a surplus. The blackout happened because one power line failed, and it caused a chain reaction all over the northeast. If electricity across the country had been more distributed and less centralized, that probably wouldn’t have happened.

New York City is what’s called a load pocket – it means that the level of power consumption is too high for electricity to be pumped in from outside the city. The power lines wouldn’t be able to handle it. As a result, regulations mandate that 80 % of New York City’s energy supply must be generated within the city. In order to meet this figure, and avoid all the problems associated with central generation, a lot of power companies, like Con Ed, are starting to turn towards different forms of DG.

Unfortunately, they're using dirty forms of DG, called “peakers.” These are generators in different substations around the city that get turned on during peak demand hours (hence the name). On hot summer days, when utilities need to meet the demand of 8 million New Yorkers turning on their air conditioners, these gas-guzzling peakers burn up fossil fuels and spew carbon dioxide into the air at three times the rate of normal power plants.

Solar energy is a cleaner example of Distributed Generation. Con Ed could invest its resources into setting up small, solar powered sub stations on rooftops all over the city, and New York wouldn't have to worry about another blackout for thirty years. A scientist at the Florida Solar Energy Center calculated that NYC would have needed 500 megawatts of distributed solar energy to have avoided the 2003 blackout.
The cost of bringing this much solar power to NYC - $3 billion
The cost of the 2003 blackout in tax dollars - $8 billion
... and all of you folks in Queens would have had power the last two weeks.

And imagine the environmental benefits. Instead of using peakers, New York City could meet its peak loads with 100 % clean, renewable, solar energy, burning zero fossil fuels, emitting zero green house gases, and producing zero air pollution.

Want to know something else? Every year, 7 % of all generated electricity is lost through transmission and distribution in the grid. In New York City, that’s almost $2.5 million dollars per year. Distributed Generation would fix that, too.

But, hey, who needs to start putting up solar panels? The power's back, so the problem is fixed… right?
We're not going to have any more blackouts...
Forget that it’s not even August…

Don’t Take My Word For It

“Don’t Take My Word For It” is a feature I’m going to include at the end of every post. It’s a link to a credible, scholarly source, for those of you looking for more info.

Rethinking the Grid: Distributed Generation and Urban Development by Jeff Perlman

Jeff Perlman is the President and Founder of Bright Power, a New York based company dealing with energy efficiency and renewable energy. This is an article he wrote last year about Distributed Generation. It’s a great read for those of you looking to learn more.