Astoria Students Graduate From STEM Summer Program at Variety Boys & Girls Club, Get Head Start in Green Careers

Thirty-nine teens from the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens today graduated from a summer STEM program where they learned about electricity and renewable energy as part of a New York Power Authority (NYPA) collaboration to support an under-resourced community located near an upcoming clean energy project. 174 Power Global, which is developing a 100 megawatt battery storage facility on the grounds of NYPA’s former Charles Poletti power plant, also announced a $15,000 gift to the Astoria Boys and Girls Club to support future STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) learning curriculums to put students on a path towards green careers and science and technology-related jobs. To wrap up the program, students today participated in a career panel event with subject matter experts from NYPA, 174 Power Global and Con Edison who spoke about their work and answered questions.

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“Providing energy-related education better equips students to compete academically and gives them a head start in their careers,” said Lisa Payne Wansley, vice president of NYPA’s Environmental Justice program. “NYPA always strives to be a good neighbor to the historically disadvantaged and marginalized communities located near our statewide facilities and assets and we are excited to collaborate with 174 Power Global and Con Edison to engage more young people in the clean energy field and to develop even more meaningful programs and services going forward.”

The middle school students spent five weeks learning the basics of energy production and consumption through interactive and animated lesson plans. They engaged in games and hands-on learning opportunities to better understand how electricity is generated and transmitted and investigated how different new renewable energy systems will work throughout New York State, such as wind technology and battery storage.

Students also learned about how the upcoming battery storage project in Queens will be able to store or release electricity on demand, thus helping to support the integration of new sources of renewable energy like offshore wind, hydro, and solar generation to help replace energy produced by fossil fuel plants.

174 Power Global CEO Henry Yun, PhD., presented a $15,000 donation to the Boys & Girls Club as part of the graduation ceremony. The company is a partner with Con Edison in the development of the East River Energy Storage Project on land leased from NYPA.

“We're committed to supporting programs that inspire the next generation of STEM professionals, and we are proud to partner with NYPA and Con Edison in supporting the great work of the Boys and Girls Club of Queens in STEM education and promoting the opportunity for science-related careers,” said Dr. Yun. “174 Power Global is committed to providing green economy jobs to the local community, in particular at a location that is close to our energy storage project, and this STEM program is a perfect fit with our mission of creating real change by working together.”

Richard David, Con Edison’s director of Regional and Community Affairs in Queens, noted that Con Edison has been a supporter of the Variety Boys & Girls Club for decades.

“Con Edison congratulates these students for completing an important step in their education in science, technology, engineering and math,” David said. “We are developing a generation of young people with the knowledge and interest in STEM to help lead us into a clean energy future with cleaner air and water and better health.”

Costa Constantinides CEO of the Variety Boys and Girls Club, said, "The Variety Boys and Girls Club is so much more than a physical space, it's where young minds come to grow. Programming like NYPA's 5-week STEM program gives the kids hands-on experience with career paths and subject matter that is all around them, but not necessarily accessible. Western Queens generates roughly 60% of the City's power, and programs like this show our local kids opportunities to participate in the fast-growing green energy sector they may not have previously known about. I want to thank NYPA, ConEd, and 174 Power Global, whose donation will ensure that we can expand STEM programs like this at the Boys and Girls Club."

About the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens

The Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens serves over 4,000 young people each year, and the facility is open to the community 7 days a week. The space includes an indoor swimming pool, makerspace lab, computer room, teaching kitchen, gym, auditorium, art studio, dance studio, film studio, and outdoor playground. Programming serves all children (ages 6-18) including homework help, swimming and sports, coding, engineering, gourmet cooking, drama, dance, media production and so much more.

About NYPA

NYPA is the nation's largest state public power organization, through the operation of its 16 generating facilities and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines. NYPA uses no tax money or state credit. It finances its operations through the sale of bonds and revenues earned in large part through sales of electricity. More than 80 percent of the electricity NYPA produces is clean renewable hydropower. For more information visit http://www.nypa.gov/ and follow us on Twitter @NYPAenergy, Facebook, Instagram, WordPress, and LinkedIn.

About 174 Power Global

174 Power Global is a leading solar and energy storage company that is wholly owned by the Hanwha Group, with offices in NYC and in California. With deep expertise across the full spectrum of the project development cycle, 174 Power Global works closely with utilities, landowners, local communities, financial investors, and other partners to build highly productive, utility scale and C&I solar power plants throughout North America. Since its formation in 2017, 174 Power Global has signed nearly 2 gigawatts (GW) of power purchase agreements and has more than 6 GW of additional projects in the development pipeline. 174 Power Global’s name was inspired by the 174 petawatts (PW) of power the earth receives from the sun at any moment. For more information, visit: www.174powerglobal.com/

About Con Edison

Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. [NYSE: ED], one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $13 billion in annual revenues and $59 billion in assets. The utility delivers electricity, natural gas and steam to 3.4 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, N.Y. For financial, operations and customer service information, visit www.conEd.com.

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