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New York City-focused Consolidated Edison Inc., the Big Apple’s largest utility, recently unveiled several energy and transmission projects to help the city decarbonize and meet its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
Among ConEd’s projects is a plan to decarbonize the largest steam system in the United States by transitioning its feed from natural gas to low-to-zero carbon gasses. The projects may include renewable natural gas (RNG) and green hydrogen.
“We are re-imagining the steam system that has served New Yorkers reliably since 1882,” said ConEd’s Frank Cuomo, Steam Services general manager. “That means accelerating the adoption of energy efficiency, and supporting research and development of new technologies” to achieve net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2050.
ConEd’s long range plan for the steam system noted that the utility may undertake a certified gas pilot to purchase responsibly sourced gas for ConEd’s gas system that supplies both its cogeneration and steam plants.
A spokesperson for ConEd told NGI that the utility is looking into “various low carbon fuels” and is “currently in the planning phases of various pilot projects.”
About 91% of steam produced from ConEd’s five steam-generating plants is made from burning natural gas. During the early 1960s and late 1970s, the utility switched from coal to low-sulfur oil to produce its steam, which it still uses in boilers today.
Steam-electric cogeneration, using heat sourced from electric power-generating facilities that would otherwise be wasted, accounts for about 60% of the steam ConEd produces.
As the city fulfills its transition away from natural gas in its large building systems by 2040, building electrification for heat and hot water is likely to become essential, a move ConEd said it supports.
ConEd noted that clean steam can help customers avoid costly retrofits to their buildings in the electrification process.
“Utilizing our decarbonized district energy system will help these buildings achieve their goals without having to make costly internal changes,” said a ConEd spokesperson.
ConEd’s long range plan for the steam system also involves electrifying the 59 boilers used to produce the steam. The largest commercially available electric boiler, according to the utility, has a capacity of 150,000 pounds of steam per hour. The utility may pursue a pilot project to retrofit an existing steam generating plant with electric boiler technology if the pilot is deemed viable.
Energy storage may be another solution the utility deploys by pairing lithium-ion batteries with electric boilers to support additional renewable integrations.
The utility is also investigating the possibility of installing a deep geothermal well to assist in heating water for the steam plant, which could reduce the amount of energy required to generate steam.
ConEd’s steam system pumps up to 8.5 million pounds of steam per hour, serving more than 1,500 customers, about 3 million individuals, from the southern tip of Manhattan to 96th Street through 105 miles of steam mains and six generation stations.
In addition, ConEd said it is investing about $800 million to construct a trio of electric transmission projects that will deliver increasingly renewable energy to support the retirement of fossil fuel-powered plants.
“These projects will bolster the backbone of our electric grid as we prepare to deliver 100% clean power to our customers by 2040 and fulfill our recently expanded Clean Energy Commitment,” said ConEd’s senior vice president of central operations Milovan Blair.
The Reliable Clean City transmission lines will add 900 MW of transmission capacity. The project will enable the retirement of peak fossil fuel-fired plants and support renewable energy integration from outside the city, including from offshore wind farms, large-scale solar and wind projects in upstate New York and hydroelectric power delivered from Canada.
The transmission lines are being constructed in the city’s outer boroughs, including Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens, adding 900 MW of additional transmission capacity.
In Queens, where construction is underway and expected to be complete by 2021, an underground feeder is being installed between a substation in western Astoria and another in Corona.
The projects connecting substations in Gowanus and Greenwood in Brooklyn, and substations in Goethals and Fox Hills in Staten Island, are projected to be complete in 2025.
ConEd also announced it deployed a 1 MW battery system off 52nd Avenue in the Woodside area to help relieve stress on the local electric grid in summer when soaring temperatures increase demand for energy.
ConEd said it would charge the battery from the grid when demand for power is not high.
Meanwhile, when ConEd does not require the battery system, Chicago-based Endurant Energy LLC, which developed, constructed, and owns the battery, would dispatch the battery’s power into the New York Independent Systems Operator Inc.’s wholesale market.
The battery could be discharged to provide power to ConEd customers connected to the overhead system in the southern part of Woodside and northern part of Maspeth.
The two companies have partnered on two other battery systems projects, including demonstration projects located on the North Shore of Staten Island and on City Island.
ConEd, an investor-owned utility, provides electricity, natural gas and steam to 3.5 million customers in New York City and Westchester County.
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Related topics: Decarbonization Ghg power generation Rng zero emissions
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