cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/52456766

Indian Point already possesses something extraordinarily valuable that cannot simply be recreated overnight: an established high-capacity connection to the electric grid in the heart of the Lower Hudson Valley.

For decades, the site delivered approximately 2,000 megawatts into one of the most energy-intensive regions in the country. The transmission corridors, substations, interconnections and other infrastructure necessary to move enormous amounts of electricity are already there.

Meanwhile, New York is spending billions of dollars on new transmission projects to move electricity from where it is generated to where it is needed in Westchester and New York City. Building major transmission infrastructure is extraordinarily expensive and can take years of planning, permitting and construction.

Before spending billions more building elsewhere, shouldn’t we determine what can safely and economically be accomplished with the infrastructure we already have?

The argument appears to be even without a PWR at Indian Point, it’s conceivable the connection to the grid is still a valuable piece of infrastructure that could be used to tie in another type of generation.