NEW YORK —  Con Edison's Mohamed Kamaludeen is a Project Manager for Energy Storage and oversees thousands of very large batteries in several trailer-sized buildings on a small field in Ozone Park, Queens.

It’s the first utility-owned battery site in the state storing enough solar and wind energy to power 800 homes and businesses.

“These are exciting times,” said Kamaludeen.

“My daily bread is how to incorporate this into the grid," he explained, "and do a whole lot more than a hundred megawatts.”

That’s exactly what Con Edison is planning along the East River, just to the north of the Astoria Generating Station.

Con Edison signed a deal with partner 174 Power Global to build the facility that will store enough green energy to power 16,000 customers for several hours, or the World Trade Center for a day.


What You Need To Know

  • The new batteries should store enough green energy to power 16,000 customers for several hours, or the World Trade Center for a day

  • New York state wants 30 facilities in the next decade like the one planned because they are necessary for renewable energy use, which by their nature are not dependable

  • Solar panels and wind farms only generate electricity when it’s sunny or windy

  • Con Edison selected 174 Power Global to build the new energy storage facility

  • "The companies have a seven-year contract under which Con Edison will bid power from the battery 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," explained Con Edison

“This helps shore up the overall grid,” said Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. President Timothy Cawley.

Cawley explained the stored energy will help on the hottest of summer days when demand surges. The batteries will charge when demand for power is low and less expensive. They will discharge when demand for power is high, decreasing the need for power from fossil fuel.

Cawley says storage facilities like this one are necessary to help the state meet its goal of 70% renewable energy use by 2030. That’s because solar panels and wind farms only generate electricity when it’s sunny or windy.

“You can’t hit a switch and order megawatts," said Cawley. "You get what the sun provides and you get what the wind provides in wind energy. And so because you can't control it, you really need to address that intermittency to make sure the lights stay on all time, consistently.”

The small site in Ozone Park only opened last year, and next year 174 Power Global plans to break ground on the much larger Astoria site.

“We are proud to have been selected by Con Edison for this project," 174 Power Global President and CEO Henry Yun said. "We look forward to working together to help bring clean power, as well as other regional electricity and economic benefits to the Astoria community and more broadly to the state.”

“We plan for the future, but it definitely is something that really excites me and wakes me up,” said Kamaludeen.

Con Ed wants to have the new batteries running by 2022, and the state wants 29 more of them in the next 10 years.

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