Con Edison-174 Power Global Battery Project Gets State Regulator Approval

State energy regulators today gave Con Edison and partner 174 Power Global approval to place a large battery system at the site of a former fossil fuel plant near the East River in Astoria, Queens.

The approval by the New York State Public Service Commission is an important step in the development of the East River Energy Storage System on land where the Charles Poletti power plant was.

The system will be able to store and discharge 100 megawatts, or 100 million watts, of electricity. That’s enough to run 100,000 hair dryers or as many as 1 million desktop computers. The system will be able to store enough electricity to power the World Trade Center for about a day.

“Battery storage is essential to our quest to create a clean energy future and prevail against climate change,” said Leonard Singh, senior vice president, Customer Energy Solutions, for Con Edison. “Bulk storage will let us bring large amounts of renewable energy to our customers without compromising our industry-leading reliability, even as fossil fuel generators in New York City are shuttered into retirement.”

"Energy storage technology has emerged as an essential component of the energy landscape and the proliferation of energy storage projects in New York is critical to meeting the state’s ambitious climate change goals,” said 174 Power Global president and CEO, Henry Yun. “We are pleased to receive approval from the PSC and are one step closer to bringing clean power, as well as other regional electricity and economic benefits, to the Astoria community and state.”

“The PSC’s approval of this adaptive reuse project on NYPA’s site in Astoria is a big win for New York State and specifically the Queens community, and demonstrates an important step towards achieving our ambitious clean energy goals,” said Gil C. Quinones, NYPA president and CEO. “Large-scale battery storage provides the opportunity for greater flexibility and resiliency of the electric grid and will support the growth of renewable energy for decades to come.”

Batteries make it possible to store energy created by renewable resources and provide that energy to customers when they need it. Utility-scale battery storage will grow in importance with the planned addition of large amounts of renewable energy in New York State, including 9,000 megawatts from offshore wind turbines.

Battery technology is an important part of the New York State and New York City environmental plans, which Con Edison supports. Con Edison seeks to offer customers 100 percent clean power by 2040, an achievement that would mean a dramatic improvement in air quality and public health. Read more about Con Edison’s Clean Energy Commitment.

174 Power Global, which specializes in renewable energy projects, will build the battery system by the end of 2022 and own it.

The batteries will draw power from the grid at times when the demand for power is low and less expensive. They will discharge that power at times when the demand for power is high, decreasing the need for power from fossil fuel-fired plants.

The companies have a seven-year contract under which Con Edison will bid power from the battery system into the state’s wholesale market. At the end of the contract, 174 Power Global will dispatch the power into the state’s bulk power transmission system.

Con Edison and its customers will get the benefit of the revenues from the sales into the wholesale market during the contract term. The batteries will connect to a nearby Con Edison transmission substation. The batteries will be in containers and produce no emissions and little noise at the industrial site.

Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. [NYSE: ED], one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues and $62 billion in assets. The utility delivers electricity, natural gas and steam to 3.5 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, N.Y. For financial, operations and customer service information, visit www.conEd.com.

About 174 Power Global

174 Power Global is a leading solar and energy storage company that is wholly owned by the Hanwha Group, with offices in NYC and in California. With deep expertise across the full spectrum of the project development cycle, 174 Power Global works closely with utilities, landowners, local communities, financial investors, and other partners to build highly productive, utility scale and C&I solar power plants throughout North America. Since its formation in 2017, 174 Power Global has signed nearly 2 gigawatts (GW) of power purchase agreements and has more than 6 GW of additional projects in the development pipeline. 174 Power Global’s name was inspired by the 174 petawatts (PW) of power the earth receives from the sun at any moment. For more information, visit: www.174powerglobal.com/