Aging power plants and a projected "rapid growth" in electric usage over the next five to 10 years could stress the region’s power grids to their limits and pose challenges to electric system reliability, according to two new reports.

Those factors combined with public policies limiting supply resources into the region are contributing to electric "reliability violations" on Long Island and New York City beginning next summer, according to the New York Independent System Operator, the nonprofit corporation that manages state grids and wholesale power markets.

"New York’s generation fleet is among the oldest in the country, and as these generators age, they are experiencing more frequent and longer outages," according to a NYISO short-term assessment report released Tuesday.

"The violati

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