ISO New England Control Center, Massachusetts

An operations room in this building near Holyoke controls the flow of electricity throughout New England. Inside the room, usually fewer than eight people work at control stations, under a big illuminated board that indicates the status of over 300 power plants and 8,600 miles of transmission lines under their control. The facility is run by Independent Systems Operator (ISO) New England, Incorporated, a nonprofit company established by federal directive in 1997 to manage wholesale electrical distribution in the emerging era of deregulation. ISO replaced the New England Power Pool, which built a centralized control facility in the early 1970's, to manage the region's electrical flow, in response, partially, to catastrophic power outages that occurred in the 1960's. ISO New England also maintains a backup control room and data center in Windsor, CT.