Ravenswood Generating Station on track to become a renewable energy hub

The owners of Ravenswood Generating Station — rebranded as Rise, Light and Power — have proposed a project that would bring renewable energy generated upstate to the heart of Queens. AP Photo By Mark Lennihan

By Rachel Vick

Ravenswood Generating Station could be home to renewable energy transported from upstate New York by 2026, plant owner-operator Rise Light & Power announced.

The proposed Catskills Renewable Program, part of ongoing efforts from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to bring large-scale renewables to New York City, would partner with contractors upstate to build new wind and solar infrastructure, supplying an estimated 15 percent of New York City’s energy needs through the Queensbridge-adjacent power plant.

“Our Catskills proposal is a transformative solution that will significantly reduce fossil fuel use and emissions in New York City… and demonstrate how a legacy power plant site can be transformed into a hub of clean energy,” said Joe Esteves and David Nanus, the co-heads of Private Equity at LS Power, owner of Rise Light & Power.

The Catskills Connector is expected to reduce the state’s carbon emissions by nearly 2 million tons within the first year of operation – the equivalent of taking nearly 400,000 cars off the road, according to RLP. The proposal also includes a commitment to train apprentices, including Queens residents, to help prepare the green workforce.

Esteves and Nanus called the NYSERDA program a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform New York’s infrastructure.”

Turning fossil fuel plants hits close to home for a number of Queens residents living in the heart of “asthma alley” — named after the neighborhood’s higher than borough average rates of asthma due to higher levels of air pollution.

“As a born and raised member of the Ravenswood community, I can attest to the importance of this project and the many benefits it will bring,” Carol Wilkins, NYCHA Residential Association president at Ravenswood Housing. “We have experienced the horrors of environmental injustice. We have lived under the shadows of the smokestacks. We now see the opportunity and hope offered by the Rise Light & Power’s Catskills Renewable Connector.“

If approved by NYSERDA, construction of the Catskills Renewable Connector is slated to begin in 2023 and fully operational by 2026.

The project was issued in response to a NYSERDA request for proposals to connect the five boroughs to renewable energy projects to meet the city’s emission and energy goals — they received proposals from more than a dozen applicants.

“NYSERDA’s Tier 4 program promises to help right many of the historic wrongs that hurt low-income and communities of color in New York for generations due to disproportionate exposure to fossil fuel emission,” said New York City Environmental Justice Alliance Executive Director Eddie Bautista. “It’s a win-win — higher environmental standards, lower levels of pollution, more jobs, and stronger local economies.”