More electric use on LI demands a stronger grid

Throughout my career, I have sought to promote a resilient and diversified energy future on Long Island. In my current work restoring the historic Long Island lab of Nikola Tesla, inventor of the alternating current electrical standard, I am amazed at how far we have come in realizing his visionary efforts of powering our electric grid with energy created by natural forces like wind, hydro, and solar power.

Yet despite those enormous strides, our electric grid has not changed much since Tesla’s time. For our region to realize the benefits of this promising energy future, we must invest in the resiliency of our power distribution network to meet the ever-growing demand for a resource taken for granted every single day.

Take a tour of your house.

The air conditioner churns constantly on a hot day. Several lights are likely on — even in parts of the house that are empty. The Wi-Fi server, a keystone supporting everything from your job to your children’s education to your family’s entertainment, is humming along. Multiple screens are going at once. Your video security system is helping keep your family safe. Devices are charging, including an electric car for some, and the fridge (maybe even two) are working to stay cold.

Homes use more electricity than ever, making us reliant on our electric grid to support our daily lives. Unplugging them would be incomprehensible but without an adequate electrical infrastructure, you could be forced to choose what you would do without.

Long Island does not have a modern electrical network to reliably bring lower-cost power to our region's 2.85 million users. That’s a huge problem. How do we make cheaper power more readily available to fill our power-hungry needs?

Most of Long Island’s transmission infrastructure dates from before the Reagan administration. Back then, the Apple IIC was the state-of-the-art computer with 128 KB of memory and VHS tapes were the latest in high-tech home entertainment. Electric cars? Only in reruns of "The Jetsons."

Not only are we using far more electricity at home now than in the 1980s, New York's grid operator projects a 50% to 90% increase over the next 20 years.

Prominent regional business groups have publicly recognized these trends and how the threat of unreliable or insufficient electricity could cripple a vibrant region.

For once, let's come together and work to get Long Island the electrical infrastructure we deserve to better serve our communities and our collective future. Let’s not focus on NIMBY issues or let scare tactics get in the way. Let's recognize the strategic importance of strengthening our distribution system and support the state's Propel NY Energy project. It will build a needed underground electrical distribution network with upgraded substations — stretching from Westchester County through New York City and onto Long Island — that augments the much-beleaguered existing one. The inconvenience of burying cables will be temporary, while the benefits (or consequences of not constructing it) will be permanent. The projected cost of $3.26 billion will be paid by every electric customer in the state, an estimated addition of 6 cents a day on their bill.

Long Islanders need an electric grid that will meet the demands we place on it every day in a 21st century world that runs on power. Failure to do so won’t necessarily plunge us right into darkness, but the future will be very dim indeed.

This guest essay reflects the views of Marc Alessi, former state assemblyman and LIPA trustee and current executive director of the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe.