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Ravenswood Unit 40, which came on-line this spring, is a testament to KeySpan's ability to address the environmental concerns of the community and New York State regulators. Shoehorning the combined-cycle plant into a small parking lot was an impressive feat of design and construction.
Owner/operator: KeySpan Energy Development Corp.
Brooklyn-based KeySpan Corp.'s 250-MW Ravenswood Unit 40 is the first power plant to have gone on-line in New York City since last summer's Northeast blackout. "KeySpan is proud to provide the first major new source of electric power to New York City in over a decade," says Robert B. Catell, chairman and CEO. "The plant will enhance the reliability of our local supply and help the city meet its growing need for power."
Ravenswood Unit 40 made this year's list of POWER's Top Plants for two main reasons: its state-of-the-art technology and its compliance with the very tough emissions rules of New York City's airshed. To mark the plant's official inauguration on March 29, KeySpan executives rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
The new unit was built on a 2.4-acre parking lot at the Ravenswood generating site in Long Island City, Queens, across the East River from midtown Manhattan (Figure 1). Sandwiched between the Ravenswood building (housing the venerable 1,000-MW "Big Allis" unit and two 385-MW units), the "A" house (a Consolidated Edison steam send-out unit), and Ravenswood's gas turbine peakers, Unit 40 increases the site's capacity by 12% to over 2,400 MW. New York City's total generating capacity is about 8,400 MW.
Bending over backward
According to Brian T. McCabe, a VP of KeySpan Energy Development, securing an operating license for Unit 40 was a long, complicated process. The company bought the entire Ravenswood facility in June 1999 from Consolidated Edison and filed a pre-application report with the New York State Board on Electric Generation and the Environment (also known as the NYS Siting Board) to expand it a few weeks later.
Organized public opposition to KeySpan's plans for the site followed quickly. Local citizens were primarily concerned that Unit 40 would degrade the air quality in the neighborhood. But KeySpan's public relations team worked closely with various citizens' groups to address their concerns via a Public Involvement Program whose...