New Steam Plant for Vinegar Hill
We’re not sure how big a deal this is, or if it’s any deal at all, but it was news to us and the reader who sent it in sure was steamed about it so we thought we’d throw it out there. After several years of submitting proposals (and pushing back on suggestions from the…
We’re not sure how big a deal this is, or if it’s any deal at all, but it was news to us and the reader who sent it in sure was steamed about it so we thought we’d throw it out there. After several years of submitting proposals (and pushing back on suggestions from the State that it construct a cogeneration plant), Con Ed finally gained approval from the New York Public Service Commission last December to build a new steam generating plant on a 1.14-acre site it owns on Marshall Street between Hudson and Gold Streets in Vinegar Hill; the company has a total footprint along the waterfront of 13 acres. Here’s a description from the Environmental Assessment Form: “Con Edison’s preliminary design concept for the project is to replicate the current steam generating capacity of the existing four low pressure (LP) boilers (Nos. 71, 72, 81 and 82) at the Hudson Avenue Generating Station with four new package boilers with a combined net steam send out of up to approximately 1,600,000 lb/hr. The existing LP boilers will be retired in place after the installation of the new boilers. There is no associated electric power generation under the proposed action.” From the plans, it looks like the new boilers would be housed inside a new 24,192-square-foot building (schematic on the jump) on the 1.14-acre site; the four boilers would use over 5 million gallons of water a day. In terms of zoning use and size, the project appears to be as-of-right under M3-1. Based on a Hearing document from the State Public Services Commission, the City had concerns about the costs of the project and wanted to explore proposals from other “merchant developers,” but that the State agreed with Con Ed that the process, which had been going on since 2006, had taken long enough and that Con Ed should get the go-ahead. The State also accepted Con Ed’s arguments that cogeneration would be more expensive than the boiler option. We’re in over our head on this one already, but here’s how our tipster felt when he learned the news:
It troubles me in a number of ways, but I am also burned because if you read the hearing decision it states that the community was notified of Con-Ed’s desire to replace the Hudson Avenue Generating Station, etc. and no one from the community came forward to put in any objections. What!? I live in this community and I never read/heard of this proposal. I found out about this only because I was bored and decided do some internet trolling. So what happens now?
Is anyone familiar enough with how these things work or the cogeneration issue to comment?
Update: We’ve embedded both documents on the jump.
Con Ed Long Environmental Assessment Form 7/15/09
“What!? I live in this community and I never read/heard of this proposal.”
Right, you live next to a massive coned plant in an industrial nabe and are complaining about it. nimby!
Thanks, steamman.
I should point out that most large Manhattan buildings get their heat from steam supplied by coned, and also the steam is put to use (in some buildings) to run the turbines that power the AC chillers and such. FAR better than back in the old days when every building had it’s own polluting boilers.
Seems really odd they would put in steam plants and not have them be Co-gen so they produce electricity as well. What a waste.
There is so much in the way of politics and finances involved with these things that getting to the bottom of why a decision was made is pointless. Here are some facts though.
Cogen is a great system when it can be utilized. As chrishavens so succinctly pointed out, this plant sends steam over to Manhattan as do other Con Ed plants here in the city. **I proposed a steam tax on our Manhattan steam sucking brethren. Then there would be more money for ridding Downtown Brooklyn of urban blight, you see.**
Anyhoo, cogeneration works very well when the point of use is close to the cogen plant. The big red and white tipped stack at the Brooklyn Navy Yard belongs to a cogen plant built there back in 1996. A cogen plant uses the waste heat produced in the making of electricity to heat water for heating, steam for heating or process uses, etc. As the Navy Yard has a need for that sort of steam and hot water usage, it made sense to construct a cogen plant there. I maybe wrong but I think BUG built that one. So rather than starting from scratch to create an electrical generating station which requires additional paperwork, reviews, engineering, infrastructure and financing; it seems that Con Ed went with what the have plus an upgrade.
So these new boilers will be of the watertube variety. There are a number of manufacturers who make what is known as a packaged boiler. We own a number of packaged firetube boilers made by a company called Cleaver Brooks. Feel free to go to their website and click on Industrial Watertube to see a picture of what these babies look like.
I can tell you this, they will be burning Natural Gas which will mean less pollution than the old plant which most likely fired #6 fuel oil. To give an idea, your home heating oil is #2, it’s like honey compared to #6 which resembles liquid tar. #6 oil is what is left after all the good stuff has been distilled off, it has a high BTU content but is dirty.
The addition of the gas burners will most likely require a new gas line be brought in which will mean local road work, although probably not too disruptive. All in all it is a good thing this plant upgrade. It should mean modern systems, a bit cleaner air, less noise and jobs.
I hope this was helpful, and no, I don’t work for Con Ed! 😛
Steve Fontas
Molten Mechanical & Metal Works, Ltd.
My sense is Con Ed was more focused on preventing an outside “merchant developer” from seizing control (Don’t ask; it’s Byzantine.) of the property than on doing the right thing.
steam plants like the one on 14th street and Ave C/D are a great way to cut back on greenhouse emissions and fossil fuel consumption. Like someone else said, they only work in dense urban areas but steam plants can be a wonder of efficiency. Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village would have been a lot more expensive and dirty from the beginning had it not been for the Con Ed steam plant.
This sounds like a middling-small one, as these things go. They’re not pretty, but it doesn’t sound like the spot’s that pretty right now anyways.
They shouldn’t have ignored the community outreach but if you know what they can do they make a lot of sense and serve a variety of purposes.
I think there’s a small steam plant currently attached to the Brooklyn hospital and LIU campuses for heat and sterilization.
The Toren has cogeneration with the Grid and Con Ed working it why can’t this one be co-gen? i think folks will ask their elects to weigh in
Know where the steam goes? under the east rive to 15th Street con-ed plant
that plant in turn feeds lower Manhattan power needs
so we kinda need it!
“vinegar hill was ruined long ago. This makes little difference.” – when you talking about, like 1700?
vinegar hill was ruined long ago. This makes little difference.
These ppeople live in an area zoned “industrial,” correct?