Scenic Hudson is partnering with PennPraxis to stop the power plant that is proposed at Danskammer Point, a site on the edge of the Hudson River in the town of Newburgh, NY. Danskammer Point currently holds a fossil fuel peaker plant and the owner of this plant plans to replace the current facility (which now only operates less than 5% of the time) with one that will run virtually non-stop. The frequent combustion of fossil fuels this will bring will greatly increase emissions that pollute the air with carbon and asthma-inducing chemicals. Despite New York State adopting one of the country’s most ambitious climate targets this past year, aiming to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040, New York state legislators have largely kept quiet on the project. While the state's Siting Board is reviewing the application, our team is working with Scenic Hudson to design alternatives for the site. These alternatives push for an Energy Transition Facility based on renewable energy storage systems that will lead New York's carbon-free energy transition.
The PennPraxis team spoke with experts in the battery storage system industry as well as economists to develop sets of alternative proposals for Danskammer Point. Through site suitability analysis and studies of utility-scale energy storage technologies, two main scenarios were developed: the Climate-Forward Scenario and the Development-Forward Scenario. The distinguishing factor between these two scenarios is public access to the site. Under each scenario, different schemes were tested to determine the site’s hypothetical maximum energy storage capacity. On the flood-prone area of the site (where the current plant is sited and where the new plant is proposed to be built), we imagine new futures for the site—ranging from a “Forever Wild” wetland preserve, to a public park or waterfront development.
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