HOLYOKE, Mass. — Potential outages and other disruptions on New England’s power grid will be spotted more quickly as the region’s grid operator installs new equipment paid for by federal stimulus money.
ISO-New England says it will use an $8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to install high-speed sensors that monitor voltage and other conditions on the grid. The smart-grid devices will relay information 30 times a second, up from once every four seconds.
The grant will cover nearly half the cost of the upgrade. ISO New England and transmission owners participating in the project will match the federal grant.
Transmission companies and ISO New England expect to begin installing equipment this summer and complete the project over three years.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less