4.20.23 - New York regulators approve $810M Con Ed clean energy hub
' New York utility regulators on Thursday approved an $810 million Con Edison facility in Brooklyn, a project that was first pitched by the company as a hub for offshore wind energy but was approved by regulators for other reasons.
After a year of back and forth, the New York Public Service Commission ultimately granted Con Ed’s request to complete a major new substation on company property just south of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The project, called the clean energy hub and approved just in time for Earth Day, is now mainly intended to provide reliability for customers in several parts of New York City.
Because of changes in the project, the PSC is now making Con Ed customers pay for the entire project, while the company had originally asked that costs be shared with others across the state.
Last April, also just in time for Earth Day, Con Ed unveiled the idea for a $1 billion hub to host transmission lines in hopes of bringing ashore 6,000 megawatts of energy from offshore wind projects. The company wanted the PSC to approve that version of the project by last July, but the original idea was panned in a series of public comments by the company’s competitors.
For instance, Rise Light and Power, which also hopes to host offshore wind transmission lines in Queens, opposed Con Ed’s original idea, while New York City officials called for further analysis.
The project that the commission approved Thursday is meant to be a more traditional substation, though the commission left open the possibility that Con Ed could host transmission lines bringing in 1,500 megawatts of clean energy, a fourth as much as the company originally hoped.
However the project is framed, though, it’s a major step for the company and the region as demand for electricity grows. The substation will allow more clean energy to be sent to Brooklyn and perhaps speed up clean energy development because developers will know the area can handle the new power. It’s still unclear where the new power will come from if it isn’t offshore wind, but it could be upstate hydropower or other energy sources.
Con Ed got approval Thursday for a large energy hub in Brooklyn.
There is rising demand for electricity in areas of Brooklyn and Queens near the hub because of economic growth and also because of laws forcing customers and energy companies to turn away from natural gas, such as the city’s own ban on many new natural gas hookups and the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, known as CLCPA.
In a statement, Con Ed called what the PSC approved a “transformative infrastructure project that will contribute to the continued high reliability of Con Edison’s power grid as New Yorkers move toward electric vehicles and clean heating systems.” '