“Amtrak is running ahead of schedule. The Washington, D.C.-based national train giant is one of the first transit systems to plan a community microgrid so that it can keep its operations running during power outages.
“In the aftermath of the 2012 Superstorm Sandy, half of Sunnyside Yard had to rely on portable backup generators for a month due to a damaged transmission line. And in July 2006, about 25,000 customers in the Yard’s Long Island City border lost power for more than five days due to wind-related equipment failures.
Independently owned, the proposed $31.3 million microgrid would secure critical transportation services via 17.2 MW of energy generation and 4 MWh of storage. Operation, maintenance, and fuel costs would total $7.2 million yearly, with annual revenue streams of $10 million, primarily through the sale of electricity to Amtrak and Consolidated Edison.
“Planned for Amtrak’s Sunnyside Yard in Queens and Penn Station in Manhattan, the microgrid also will include a nearby college and high school. In addition, it could provide emergency power to a public housing complex, gas stations, and a grocery store in the Sunnyside area of New York City.
Madison Square Garden, also at Penn Station, and public housing and new developments near Sunnyside Yard will be considered for inclusion in Phase II of the project.
“The project proposes five new distributed energy resources: a 6-MW combined heat and power (CHP) unit; two natural gas reciprocating generators (at 3 MW and 8 MW); a 200-kW solar photovoltaic (PV) array; a 1 MW zinc air battery storage unit…”