New York City trades gas plant for the world’s largest battery

New York State Public Service Commission

John Weaver reports for PV Magazine

The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved a 316 MW / 2528 MWh (that’s 8 hours!) energy storage facility (pdf) to “provide peak capacity, energy, and ancillary services in New York City while enhancing grid reliability”.

Ravenwood Development (owners of the current gas plants at the site) plans to build out the project in three phases – 129 MW, 98 MW and then 89 MW – with the first phase complete by March 2021. There is no timetable given for deployment of second and third phases of the project.

The facility would be located at 38-54 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, in New York City’s Borough of Queens (Google Maps).

If the groups deploy all 2.5 GWh of energy storage, they will need demolish 16 existing gas peaker plants, only two of which – with a total peaking capacity of 316 MW – are currently running. There are other gas burning facilities as well, some of which were originally built in the early 1960s.

Found within the Acoustical Analysis & Recommendations (pdf) , is the below rough hardware bill of materials and shipping container layout. The document notes that there will be 136 individual inverters, with 64 of the units being double stacked. The document also names Sunny Central Storage 2500-EV-US Inverter as the currently specified hardware. It was determined that the hardware would increase the site’s decibel rating less than 3 db, a trivial level of noise.

In the filings, Ravenwood was asked to identify if there are “any facilities serving children, the elderly, people with disabilities (e.g., schools, hospitals, day care centers, or group homes) within 1500 feet of the project site?”

P.S. 83; P.S. 76; P.S. 111; St. Ritas School; Growing Up Green Middle School; Jacob Blackwell School; Western Queens Nursery School; The Child School; The Child Middle School; Long Island City High School; Long Island City Health Center; Bright Horizons; NYC Housing Authority Ravenswood Day Care; Queensbridge South Day Care Center.

The PSC’s 48 page decision (pdf – and here’s a link to the Master Project Petition hosted by the PSC and one specific document with great maps/research including the header image) also approved the facility receiving “lightened regulation” as it was determined there’d be relatively little negative impacts on the local population. Ravenwood argues that even though the facility would be charged by any electricity source – fossil fuels included – it would still lower overall emissions within the city.

If this project is deployed fully, the 316 MW of power would meet just over 10% of the New York State’s goal of 3,000 MW by 2030.

Currently, the world’s largest announced lithium ion batteries are the 409 MW / 900 MWh FPL facility in Florida, the 300 MW / 1200 MWh system by Vistra Energy, and a 182.5 MW / 730 MWh system by Tesla at Moss Landing facility in California, and the recently announced 300 MW / 1.2 GWh Eland facility by 8minute Solar Energy feeding Los Angeles. This project will double the largest here.

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‘That’s vinegar:’ The Ohio River’s history of contamination and progress made

BarbiAnn Maynard drives 45 minutes from her home in Martin County, Kentucky, to a spring at the Mingo-Logan county line in West Virginia to fill containers with fresh water. (Credit: Curren Sheldon/100 Days in Appalachia)

“It’s a functioning ecosystem now”

By April Johnston in Environmental Health News

In 1958, researchers from the University of Louisville and the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission gathered at a lock on the Monongahela River for routine collecting, counting and comparing of fish species.

At the time, the best way to accomplish this was what’s called lock chamber sampling, or filling a 350-by-56-foot lock with river water, injecting it with cyanide and waiting for the dead fish to float to the top. Archaic, but effective.

On this particular day, researchers opened the chamber to find one fish inside.

One fish.

It shouldn’t have been surprising, said Jerry Schulte, a biologist who managed the source water protection and emergency response team for the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission [ORSANCO] for more than two decades. After all, the steel companies that dotted the region’s riverbanks were dumping their contaminated water right into the rivers. The waterways were so acidic that the steel-hulled boats meant to last 20 years rusted out in three and the pH routinely measured less than 4.

“That’s vinegar,” Schulte said. “It was so polluted, you could see it, smell it and taste it.”

By the time Schulte began monitoring fish species in the 1990s, thanks to environmental and industrial regulations like the Clean Water Act, the Ohio River and its major tributaries, including the Mon, had changed. They no longer looked or smelled like open sewers. Mayflies hatched on their surfaces; many pollution-intolerant aquatic species returned; and lock chamber sampling — done without cyanide — could yield hundreds, even thousands, of fish.

“It’s a functioning ecosystem now,” Schulte said.

Functioning doesn’t mean perfect, however. As recently as 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency named the Ohio River one of the country’s most polluted. Industrial contaminants, including the “forever chemical” perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), have been detected on long stretches of the river and toxic algal blooms erupt when conditions are just right. Still, most of the time, the majority of the river’s 981 miles are ripe for recreation and fit for drinking after proper treatment.

The same can’t always be said for the greater Ohio River watershed.

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Evacuation alerts spread as brushfires roar in Australia

Fire danger rating in parts of NSW rises to severe as hot, dry, windy conditions end a brief reprieve of bushfire-hit areas of Australia

More than 250 homes have been lost to bushfires in NSW since Friday and 16 homes have been lost in Qld over the past week. A CFA Member works on controlled back burns along Putty Road on Thursday to try to contain the Gospers Mountain fire in the Hawkesbury region of greater Sydney, which on Friday triggered an emergency warning. Photograph: Brett Hemmings/Getty Images

By Australian Associated Press

A fresh emergency warning was issued for the Hawkesbury on Sydney’s outskirts on Friday for a fast-moving fire, as hot, dry and windy conditions returned to bushfire-hit areas of New South Wales.

The warning was issued for a persistent 80,000-hectare blaze at Gospers Mountain, which was burning in the direction of Colo Heights. Those in the town should leave immediately towards Wilberforce, the Rural Fire Service warned.

It was one of four emergency warnings issued on Friday afternoon.

Residents of the town of Ebor, near Armidale were warned just after 2.30 pm AEDT to “seek shelter as the fire front arrives” due to a large bushfire.

A third emergency warning, for the Carrai East fire near Kempsey, was issued at 3.15 pm AEDT. The RFS said the bushfire has broken containment lines on the northern side and was burning in the Mines Road area, towards Temagog.

The fourth warning was was for an out of control fire in Richmond Valley in the state’s north, burning in the area of Bungawalbin and New Italy.

In Queensland, residents are evacuating from the path of a fast-moving bushfire in the Pechey forest raging towards Ravensbourne.

Fire crews and water bombers are attacking the blaze north of Toowoomba that has sparked an emergency warning for people to get out because it will soon be too dangerous to leave.

On Friday afternoon it was racing from Grapetree Road at Peachey towards Ravensbourne. The dangerous fire is expected to impact Purtill Road, Garvey Road, Ravensbourne Tip Road, Mount Jockey Road and McQuillan Road. People leaving the area should head southwest along Esk Hampton Road towards Toowoomba.

Warnings remain in place for residents of Woodgate and nearby Kinkuna Waters, south of Bundaberg.

A worrying fire at Thornside, west of Gympie, has been downgraded to watch and act.

The Cobraball fire near Yeppoon in central Queensland continues to worry authorities given the difficult weather conditions expected in coming days.

The blaze, which destroyed 15 of the 16 homes lost in Queensland over the past week, is 90 percent contained but that could change when high winds arrive.

Australian firefighters battle blazes and exhaustion

Damage assessments were continuing, with Queensland Fire and Emergency Services saying the number of homes lost could rise.

But QFES assistant commissioner Tony Johnstone said crews had done a remarkable job protecting property.

“It’s really hard to say how many houses we’ve saved but I’d say in excess of 300 or 400,” he told ABC radio.

Temperatures to soar over the weekend

Temperatures near major fire grounds are expected to soar beyond 30C on Friday and into the weekend.

Almost all of Queensland was expecting high or very high fire danger on Friday and there was a chance of severe thunderstorms in the south-east that were forecast to produce little rain.

The drought-stricken Darling Downs and Granite Belt region, west of Brisbane, was facing severe fire danger for at least the next three days.

Read the full story

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New York gets $9M EPA air grant

A news release from the USEPA:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it has awarded the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) $9.35 million to support the state’s air pollution control and air monitoring programs. 

“Since the implementation of the Clean Air Act in 1970, air quality has drastically improved and our state partners play a key role in reducing harmful air pollutants through our joint efforts,” said EPA Regional Administrator Pete Lopez. “EPA’s funding will support New York in its efforts to meet national air quality standards and protect people’s health and the environment.”

$8,086,874 for Air Pollution Control Program Support

EPA provided NYSDEC with $8 million to assist New York in its efforts to implement air pollution control programs. These programs include:

  • Developing and implementing regulations for stationary sources of air pollution, such as factories, refineries, boilers, and power plants;
  • Updating regulations for mobile sources of air pollution, such as cars, commercial trucks, aircrafts, marine vessels, and heavy equipment;
  • Improving emissions data and modeling; and
  • Operating a monitoring network.

$1,264,205 for PM 2.5 Ambient Air Monitoring Network

This grant will help NYSDEC operate and maintain an air monitoring network very fine particulate pollution, PM 2.5, which are less than 2.5 micrometers or about 1/30th the diameter of a human hair. PM 2.5 is the main cause of reduced visibility (haze) in parts of the U.S., including many national parks and wilderness areas. PM exposures can cause harmful effects on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems including heart attacks, strokes, asthma attacks, and bronchitis. These effects can result in emergency department visits, hospitalizations and, in some cases, premature death. Children, older adults, and those with breathing or heart problems are especially vulnerable to these effects.

EPA continues to work with states, local governments, tribes, and citizens – to further improve air quality for all Americans. EPA’s annual report titled Our Nation’s Air summarizes the nation’s air quality status and trends through 2018. The report includes interactive graphics that enable citizens, policymakers, and stakeholders to view and download detailed information by pollutant, geographic location, and year. Explore the report and download graphics and data here:

For more information about particulate pollution and PM 2.5, visit https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution.

For more information about NY State’s Air Pollution Program, visit  https://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/281.html

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If electric cars catch on and gas-tax revenue shrinks, how will NJ Jersey fund its transportation projects?

A commission is being proposed that would come up with a new system of taxing vehicles including, but not limited to, electric cars and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

Under a bill (S-4090) up for consideration this week in the Legislature, a new seven-member commission would come up with a new system of taxing motor vehicles including, but not limited to, electric cars and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

For the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Transportation Financing Commission, there may not be much reason to hurry. By most estimates, only 25,000 electric vehicles are on the road in New Jersey today. Even clean-car advocates concede it will be tough to meet a target of upping that number to 330,000 by 2025.

But they hope to push a bill (S-2252) in the lame-duck Legislature that would provide incentives for consumers to buy electric vehicles; it also would establish aggressive targets to build charging stations — a step advocates say is necessary to convince consumers to buy the electric vehicles.

The state’s draft energy master plan and New Jersey’s participation in the Transportation Climate Alliance all recommend the electrification of the transportation sector, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Most climate activists say New Jersey will never achieve its goals without significantly electrifying vehicles, not only light-duty cars, but commercial vehicles and buses, too.

But replacing the gas tax — a conventional way of financing transportation improvements — is proving to be a tough choice for states as consumers switch to vehicles no longer fueled by petroleum. Some, like Oregon, and other western states, have tried pilot programs that tax motorists on vehicles per mile traveled.

A different way to tax drivers

The bill, up before the Senate Transportation Committee on Thursday, does not specify any way to raise the needed funds but gives the commission 180 days from its formation to provide recommendations to the Legislature.

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Australian bushfires reach Sydney’s outskirts but ‘catastrophic day’ is avoided

A firefighter tackles bushfire in Sydney's northern suburb of South Turramurra. Photo: 12 November 2019
Bushfires scorched parts of South Turramurra, an affluent suburb north of Sydney

The BBC reports:

Raging bushfires have now reached the outskirts of Sydney, destroying a number of properties, officials say.

Scores of fires are still burning in New South Wales amid temperatures of 35C (95F) and winds of 80km/h (50mph).

A feared southerly wind change has now occurred but the “catastrophic” day feared has largely been avoided.

No deaths were reported on Tuesday but fire chiefs warned that conditions meant the dangers facing the state were far from over.

About six million people live in New South Wales (NSW) state.

What’s the latest on firefighting efforts?

The number of fires still afflicting NSW ranged from 100 to 300 in Australian media reports.

Crews have been battling a front spanning 1,000km (620 miles) along the north coast of NSW, with several blazes “exceeding 100,000 hectares alone”, officials have said.

Flame retardant had to be dropped on Sydney’s northern outskirts as some bushfires approached within 15km (nine miles) of the city centre.

A car sprayed with fire retardant is seen after a bushfire in the residential area of Sydney on November 12, 2019
Image captionEarlier, residential areas of Sydney were doused in pink fire retardant

A firefighting plane dropped pink fire retardant in the area between Macquarie University and the Sydney Adventist Hospital in the South Turramurra suburb.

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