Consolidated Edison Ravenswood Powerhouse – Queens

The Ravenswood Generating Station is a 1,480 megawatt powerplant in Long Island City, in Queens, New York along the East River.  It was originally built and owned by Consolidated Edison in 1963.  Con Edison in 1962 had plans on building a 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant at the Ravenswood site, but the it was so strongly opposed by the local community Con Ed withdrew its application.  Con Edison originally started out with two units (Ravenswood Unit 10 and Unit 20).  In 1965, Con Edison added Ravenswood Unit 30 (a/k/a “Big Allis”), a natural gas facility a 1,000-megawatt generator built by Allis-Chambers; at the time of its installation, it was the world’s largest steam energy generating facility, and it burns 97% natural gas and 3% oil (used as backup fuel). The Ravenswood powerhouse site overall produces about 2,500 MW (or 20% of New York City’s electricity consumption).

Ownership of the site has changed hands several times. In 1999, Con Edison was required to sell its “in-city” generating stations due to deregulation of the energy markets in New York. As a result, Con Edison plant sold the Ravenswood site to KeySpan Energy.  KeySpan constructed a new Unit, Ravenswood 40, in 2004.  In 2007, National Grid acquired KeySpan, but because it was already involved in electrical transmission, the NY Public Service Commission required National Grid to sell the Ravenswood site to ensure competition in the market. So in 2008, National Grid sold the Ravenswood site TransCanada, who later sold Ravenswood to LS Power/Helix Energy Solutions Group.  Con Edison also owns and operates a steam generation plant on the Ravenswood site which consists of four Babcock & Wilcox boilers, and it continues to supply steam via the Ravenswood Tunnel under the East River.

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