BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM — The village’s newly rehabilitated East Dam is shut down again, but this time due to a failure of National Grid equipment used to receive the power generated by the dam’s turbines.

East Dam, which was running and generating power since it was brought back on line earlier this year, is offline currently and will be for the “foreseeable future,” Village Administrator Greg Thompson told the village board of trustees at their meeting July 26.

“National Grid has experienced a catastrophic breakdown in what is called a DX3 system which allows us to push power onto the grid,” Thompson said.

He told the village board that the company that built National Grid’s DX3 system no longer exists. “So parts are impossible. So they basically got to find someone who creates, or has created a similar system that they can put into its place,” Thompson said.

The administrator said National Grid will be in close communication with the village as the situation progresses.

He told the board, however, that the dam will not be able to generate power until National Grid can bring that system back online. “Right now we are just hanging on and hoping,” Thompson said.