Ravenswood Generating Station (Ravenswood) is a 2480 megawatt power plant in Long Island City, Queens, New York.[1] It is owned and operated by TransCanada Corporation.
Ravenswood was originally built and owned by Consolidated Edison of New York Inc. (Con Edison) in 1963. The first units constructed in 1963 were Ravenswood 10 and 20, each having a generating capacity of approximately 385 megawatts. Then, in 1965, Ravenswood 30 (commonly called "Big Allis") was commissioned with a generating capacity of nearly 981 megawatts, which at the time was the largest electric generating facility in the world. In the 1970's, multiple combustion turbine units were installed in a simple cycle configuration to meet peak power demands.
Due to deregulation of the energy markets in New York State, Con Edison was required to sell all of its "in-city" generating stations in New York City including Ravenswood. In 1999, Con Edison transferred ownership of Ravenswood to KeySpan Energy (KeySpan) for $597 Million.[2] In 2004, KeySpan constructed a new unit, Ravenswood 40, using combined cycle technology with generating capacity of 250 megawats.
National Grid plc acquired KeySpan in 2007 [3] but due to its involvement in electrical transmission the New York Public Service Commission required National Grid to sell Ravenswood to ensure competition in the market. So on August 26, 2008, Ravenswood was sold by National Grid to TransCanada Corporation for $2.9 Billion.[4][5][6]