New York State regulators have recently approved a 316 MW battery energy storage project which will be able to substitute for a fossil fuel-fired power plant. The project is known to be the largest in the state so far.
The storage system, dubbed Ravenswood, will be able to supply the power needs of New York City during its peak period. This is the first battery energy storage system for peaking operation in the northeastern region of the U.S. A number of similar facilities with smaller capacities have been set up in California and Arizona to greatly increase the maneuverability of the grid. The Ravenswood system can discharge power for up to eight hours continuously.
The project marks a major step forward for the plan of the New York state governor Andrew Cuomo, which is targeting an installation of 1,500 MW of energy storage capacities by 2025, and 3,000 MW by 2030. Cuomo believes that the facilities will enable the state of New York to eventually phase out its fossil fuel-fired power plants, which are mostly located in the impoverished areas of the state and areas of ethnic minorities.
The Ravenswood power plant, which will feature a total capacity of 2200 MW, will be the first to be replaced by a battery energy storage system in New York. Following the launch of the Ravenswood battery energy storage system, a total of 16 of the 18 generators in the natural gas-fired power plant will be dismantled. The power plant is currently owned by the grid operator LS Power, which will be implementing the battery energy storage system project as a part of the upgrading of the power plant. Like LS Power, the California-based utility company Vistra will also be building its very own battery energy storage system in the future as a substitute for its natural gas-fired power plants in Moss Landing and Oakland.
In the future, how LS Power will choose to run its battery energy storage system will be worth following. It is believed that the company will be striving for incentives from the state government.
In April, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) officially unveiled its plan to offer US$150 million to support the development and deployment of New York’s energy storage systems.
The fund has already provided US$1.3 million in subsidies to a 20MW/16.5MWh energy storage system in Albany. The system, which will be built by Key Capture Energy, was already inaugurated in September of this year.
Source: www.escn.com.cn