Ravenswood Generating Station is a 2,480 megawatt power plant in Long Island City in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, New York City, owned and operated by LS Power/ Helix Energy Solutions Group. Originally fuelled by coal, the plant has been fueled primarily by

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine f ...

(no. 6) and

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

since 1971. An early proposal included a nuclear power reactor on the site.

History

Ravenswood was originally built and owned by

Consolidated Edison Consolidated Edison, Inc., commonly known as Con Edison (stylized as conEdison) or ConEd, is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues as of 2017, and over $62 ...

of New York Inc. (Con Edison) in 1963. The first two units constructed in 1963 were Ravenswood 10 and 20, each having a generating capacity of approximately 385

megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...

. Then, in 1965, Ravenswood 30 (commonly called "

Big Allis Ravenswood Generating Station is a 2,480 megawatt power plant in Long Island City in Queens, New York City, owned and operated by LS Power/ Helix Energy Solutions Group. Originally fuelled by coal, the plant has been fueled primarily by fuel oi ...

") was commissioned with a generating capacity of nearly 981 megawatts. In the 1970s, multiple combustion

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

units were installed in a simple cycle configuration to meet peak power demands. The facility used coal fuel until 1971. Due to deregulation of the energy markets in New York State, Con Edison was required to sell all of its "in-city" generating stations in New York City including Ravenswood. In 1999, Con Edison transferred ownership of Ravenswood to KeySpan Energy for $597 million. In 2004, KeySpan constructed a new unit, Ravenswood 40, using combined cycle technology with generating capacity of 250 megawatts. National Grid plc acquired KeySpan in 2007 but due to its involvement in electrical transmission the New York Public Service Commission required National Grid to sell Ravenswood to ensure

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

in the market. On August 26, 2008, Ravenswood was sold by National Grid to TransCanada Corporation for $2.9 billion. TransCanada later sold Ravenswood to LS Power/ Helix Energy Solutions Group in a package deal also including the Ironwood, Ocean State and Kibby Wind facilities for a total price of US$2.1 Billion. In 2018, Helix Generation LLC filed a lawsuit against TransCanada Facility USA Inc. for allegedly fraudulently misleading Helix prior to the sale. In 2019, it was announced that a 316 MW battery storage system would be built at the Ravenswood Generating Station. The system would be the largest in New York state and would be built in three phases, the first of which would be complete in 2021.

Description

Ravenswood is located in Long Island City in

, New York, across from

Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the Borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. It is about long, wit ...

. The site is connected to the New York City electrical system through the 138 kV Vernon substation and the 345 kV Rainey substation. It is capable of producing 2,480 MW of electric power.

Ravenswood No. 3

Ravenswood No. 3, also known as Unit 30 or Big Allis, is a

facility at Ravenswood Generating Station owned by LS Power and operated by

IHI Corporation , formerly known as is a Japanese engineering corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan that produces and offers ships, space launch vehicles, aircraft engines, marine diesel engines, gas turbines, gas engines, railway systems, turbocharge ...

Energy Services. During 1963,

Allis-Chalmers Allis-Chalmers was a United States, U.S. manufacturer of machinery for various Industry (economics), industries. Its business lines included list of agricultural machinery, agricultural equipment, heavy equipment, construction equipment, electric ...

announced that ConEd had ordered the "world's first MILLION-KILOWATT unit...big enough to serve 3,000,000 people." This sheer scale helped the plant become popularly known as "Big Allis", due to Allis-Chalmers' role in construction. During the Northeast blackout of 1965, the bearings of the Allis-Chalmers Turbine were damaged. The lube oil pumps were hooked up to the electrical grid and thus shut down during the blackout, causing bearing damage. At the time of its installation, it was the world's largest steam energy generating facility. It is located on the Ravenswood site, consisting of Units 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as several small gas turbines (GTs), and an oil depot. The site overall produces about 2,500 MW, or approximately 20% of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

's current energy consumption. In 2011, Big Allis burned 97% natural gas, 3% oil (used as backup fuels). The site also includes a steam generation plant consisting of four

Babcock & Wilcox Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. is an American energy technology and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets with its headquarters in Akron, Ohio. Historically, the company is best known for their stea ...

boilers, owned and run by Con Edison. The plant helps in the supply of steam to the Manhattan steam system when needed, via the Ravenswood Tunnel under the East River.

Nuclear power proposal

A 750MW_e

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...

was proposed in 1962, to begin operation on the site in 1970, but was cancelled in 1964 due to controversy and safety concerns. The total capacity was to be augmented to 1000MW_e with oil-fired

superheater A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, in some steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. ...

References

External links

Con Edison Official Webpage

National Grid US Official Webpage

Ravenswood Generating Stationarchived
by TransCanada {{Electricity delivery, collapsed Fossil fuel power stations in the United States Energy infrastructure completed in 1963 Energy infrastructure completed in 1965 Energy infrastructure completed in 2004 Natural gas-fired power stations in New York (state) Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company Buildings and structures in Queens, New York Long Island City TC Energy