US' 'overloaded aging power grid' may result in India-like 'national blackout'

Washington, Aug 2 (ANI): The United States may not be facing the critical shortage of power that has left more than 600 million people in India without electricity this week, but the 'aging' and 'overloaded' electricity power grid network in America may give away soon, according to experts.

On June 29, a powerful windstorm swept east through the West Virginia region, crushing three electrical transmission towers that are a tiny part of an intricate power grid that's supposed to keep the lights on in America.

Experts fear that failures that caused blackouts in New York, Boston and San Diego recently may become more common as the voracious demand for power continues to grow, and it would take a multi-billion-dollar investment to avoid them.

"I like to think of our grid much like a water system, and basically all of our pipes are at full pressure now, and if one of our pipes bursts and we have to shut off that line, that just increases the pressure on our remaining pipes until another one bursts, and next thing you know, we're in a catastrophic run and we have to shut the whole water system down," the Washington Post quoted Otto J. Lynch, Vice President of Wisconsin-based Power Line Systems, as saying

Experts claim that while India 's blackout was a power generation problem, as several plants closed suddenly and the lights went out, the United States will need more power plants to meet the demands of a growing population, as the most immediate threat is that its delivery system will continue to fail.

Towers are designed to withstand winds far stronger than the almost 70 mph blasts that struck Ritchie County, W.Va., but three towers in a row running parallel to Route 50 north of Ellenboro collapsed, who were early victims of a storm that would devastate power delivery throughout the Mid-Atlantic, the paper said. (ANI)