New York Electric Grid
This map shows the major power lines that move electricity through New York State and New England.
This map shows the major power lines that move electricity through New York State and New England.
Key Facts:
Location: Bethlehem, NY
MW: 790
Fuel: Natural Gas (Low Sulfur Distillate Oil As Secondary)
Technology: Combined-Cycle
Commercial Operation: 2005
https://www.pseg.com/family/power/fossil/stations/bethlehem.jsp
"Albany Steam Power Station first began operations in 1952 as a coal-fired station and was converted to oil in 1970. It was further modified in 1981 for natural gas and became a 400MW oil and natural gas-fired power plant. The BEC has cut emissions of smog-causing nitrogen oxide by 90%, and reduced sulphur dioxide emissions by 94%. The BEC generates 50% less waste heat than the Albany Steam Station and has reduced air emissions by at least 95%."
https://www.power-technology.com/projects/bethlehem/
"The New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment (Siting Board) has announced approval of plans to make hardware and software changes at the Bethlehem Energy Center in Glenmont that are designed to help improve the plant’s energy efficiency. The petition was submitted by the plant’s owner, PSEG Power New York LLC. The approved changes will allow for the replacement of certain components of the three combustion turbines and certain changes to related software programs. The equipment being replaced are components of the combustion turbines themselves. According to the Siting Board, the upgrades will result in very little, if any, impact on the environment or the surrounding community, and will not result in any increase in air emissions from the facility."
This interactive map shows all of the operable power plants in New York State. Not all of them ran in 2016 or some only ran occasionally, but they could be brought online at least part of the year to generate electricity.
Data Source: EIA Form 860. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860/
A sixty years ago, under bright moonlight of rush hour, they were playing the popular hit song, Jonathan King's Everyone is Going to the Moon -- as Dan Ingram would describe -- in a Key of "R", because the tape deck playing the song would slow down as the electrical frequency dropped at the start of the Great Northeast Blackout. Definitely one of the great moments in radio history. A creepy song to be playing at the start of the blackout, especially under a full moon. Not to mention Jonathan King is a creepy individual -- he would later go to prison as a pedophile. As they said, the electricity slowed down, as the load on the grid exceeded what power plants could put out, as they started shutting down automatically as they lost power and circuit breakers overloaded. The great power failure happened when the grid was most strained -- it was rush hour, on a cold night with lots of electric heat operating, along with street lights on and office buildings still lit brightly. They say based on comparisons of this tape versus the normal speed recordings of Edward's Everybody is Going to the Moon, the grid frequency was about 50 Hz -- or the power had browned out to about 1/6th of the normal power. In an analog world, this meant lights dimmed, elevators ran slow, and tape decks played slowly -- until the power finally quit. Here is the normal speed version of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00XbDRuI78Y