Rise To Establish Largest Power Plant Of New York As An RE Hub

Rise Light & Power has revealed that it has set sights on the redevelopment of the Ravenswood Generating Station, which is New York City’s largest power generator, into a new renewable energy hub. This initiative will aid the city to reach its nation-leading climate goals. The conversion of the plant will also help the city to secure 70 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

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Rise held that its ‘Renewable Ravenswood’ clean energy solution repositions the 27-acre waterfront industrial site to serve as a central hub that can integrate clean energy sources, including offshore wind and upstate wind and solar, directly into New York City’s electric grid.

The company also shared that the RE project will accelerate New York’s bid to advance the retirement of the state’s fossil fuel facilities by 2030. Rise also revealed that Renewable Ravenswood goes a step further by finding the replacement of fossil fuel power in clean energy that is homegrown and sourced from local sources. It will also be a source of economic opportunities and will pave the way for environmental justice for both workforce and surrounding communities.

Clint Plummer, CEO, Rise Light & Power, stated, “New York City has for too long relied almost exclusively on fossil fuels to power the city. Our future demands innovative and reliable clean energy solutions, and we will deliver just that with our bold move to retire Ravenswood’s 1960s-era fossil fuel units and transition to a Renewable Ravenswood in its place. Rise Light & Power’s vision for a Renewable Ravenswood will transform New York’s energy system and help the state achieve its ambitious climate targets.”

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Paul Segal, CEO, LS Power, owner of Rise Light & Power, mentioned, “Renewable Ravenswood provides a coherent path for realizing the city’s and state’s goals for rapid deployment of low-carbon energy resources, while ensuring continued energy security, affordability and reliability as our economy transitions toward net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.”

The Five Programs Of The Project

The Renewable Ravenswood comprehensive redevelopment plan encompasses five programs. Offshore wind will look at aiding New York State reach its nation-leading offshore wind goals by repurposing existing infrastructure to connect thousands of megawatts of clean energy to the New York City grid to where it is most needed. The upstate renewables, on the other hand, will catalyze the homegrown renewables potential by connecting new wind, solar, and other clean energy resources from Upstate to New York City’s electric grid to provide reliable, year-round power.

Clean Thermal Energy is essential to repurpose Ravenswood’s river water intake system to make zero-emission thermal energy to communities in the vicinity a reality. Energy storage is required to balance the intermittent nature of renewables by deploying large-scale battery energy storage directly on the facility site.

Rise envisions several benefits for the City of New York.  To begin with, it will serve as a model for ‘Just Transition.’ It is also set to be New York City’s largest-ever environmental justice project as it will be developed in coordination with local community and environmental justice leaders and local New York City Housing Authority housing developments to ensure local economic benefits accrue directly to community members.

Rise has claimed that it will utilize existing infrastructure to lower costs and the RE produced will significantly reduce fossil fuel dependence of the city.