Con Edison, New York City’s major energy company, is all set to launch the city’s largest battery system. This comes just in time for the summer season when the demand for electricity is high due to the use of air conditioners and fans.
The battery system is located in a substation in the Fox Hills area of Staten Island. It can store up to 7.5 million watts of electricity and can supply this power to customers for four hours. This will help reduce the pressure on the city’s power system during peak demand times, which are usually late afternoons and evenings in the summer.
Matthew Ketschke, the president of Con Edison, said that the company is using batteries to make sure that the city’s power supply remains reliable. He also said that these large batteries will help the city use more clean, renewable power and reduce the use of carbon, making the announcement this week at the NYC Solar and Storage Summit in Manhattan.
The battery system will be charged at night when the demand for power is low and electricity is cheaper. It can store enough electricity to charge 1.5 million cell phones.
Besides using the battery system to keep the power supply reliable, Con Edison will also sell electricity from the system to the state’s energy market. This will help the company make money that will benefit its customers.
The battery system is made up of 11 large batteries made by Tesla known as Megapacks. Each Megapack has 19 smaller batteries inside it, and each of these has its own inverter. The Fire Department of New York’s recent safety review of the system saw the battery system pass all checks. Megapacks are part of Tesla’s booming energy storage business. Powerwalls are the smaller, consumer version of Megapacks.
Con Edison is also working on a project to help nature. The company will plant milkweed and other plants on the land where the battery system is located. This will create a habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.
The company already has a smaller battery system in the Ozone Park area of Queens. This system has been working since 2019 and can store 2 million watts of power. The company is also planning to build a small power grid with a 4-million-watt battery system in New Rochelle.