New York City’s electrical grid was pushed to the brink during last week’s heatwave as isolated power outages affected thousands of residents, highlighting what experts said is the new normal during hot summer days.
Roughly 3% of Con Edison customers, or around 110,000 people, lost power for an average of about four hours in pockets across the five boroughs during the heatwave from Sunday, June 22 through Wednesday, June 25, according to the utility. The outages, experts said, demonstrate the growing strain on the grid as buildings use more electrical power while the state retires more fossil fuel-burning energy sources without a replacement power source in place.
The shortfall creates added stress on infrastructure, like transmission lines, in dire need of upgrades…