There are seven Purple Air quality monitors placed throughout the city and there have been some recent extreme spikes on the air quality readings in the downtown Environmental Justice area on the coldest days.
There is a concern for people’s health when levels in air are high. Outdoor PM 2.5 levels are most likely to be elevated on days with little or no wind or air mixing. What else might cause levels to rise? Could it be related to the Waters River Power Station in Ward 3? BCNS has been pursuing information for years as to when the generators off Pulaski St, are running and what they are burning – to no avail.
Could the rise in particulate matter (PM2.5) be related to the type of fuel burned at the plant on cold days?
Waters River Station is ranked #37 out of 44 natural gas power plants in Massachusetts in terms of total annual net electricity generation. Grid Info revealed that 20GWh of energy was produced during the 3-month period between September 2023 to December 2023.
Waters River Power Station is a 115,000-volt substation, three gas turbine generators, and a high-pressure natural gas metering station. Two of the gas and oil burning generators are owned by Peabody and one, the newest one, is owned by MMWEC.
Peabody’s oldest generator, #1, is 54 years old and has a power output of 20MW. It is delisted from ISO’s Forward Capacity Market with the earliest closure being 2026.
PMLP will use capacity from MMWEC’s newest peaker (Project 2015A) to replace the capacity lost from closing Unit 1. Peabody is 30% owner of MMWEC’s new peaker.
What Will PMLP Do Between Now and 2026 with Unit 1?
“Because of its age and technology, Unit 1 running on oil during the winter results in relatively high NOx emissions. In order to capture essentially the same benefits of delisting Unit 1 between now and 2026, not running Unit 1 during the winter months on oil will result in the same (approximately 70%) reduction in NOx emissions. Such a NOx reduction will benefit the communities in and around Peabody.
“Using other ISO-NE rules, commencing in November, 2022 and from then through 2026 PMLP will submit bids not to run Unit 1 on oil except as required for testing in adherence to Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and ISO-NE regulations. This approach will be used by PMLP until the time period by which ISO-NE allows Unit 1 to shut down.”
If this 54-year-old generator is needed by ISO on these cold days, it could be burning oil because it is the preferred alternative when there is an unavailability of gas or gas costs rise.
And/or, Peabody’s second peaker, a 33-year-old dual fuel (gas and oil) generator with a power output of 48 MW could be called on by ISO-NE anytime the grid needs it.
Submitted Jan. 22 to PMLP’s Energy Awareness Forum
Could PMLP make available information on the 2 generators owned by Peabody at the Waters River substation, including dates, times and duration when they run for either testing or as required for power generation? There are at least 7 air quality monitors placed throughout the city and there have been some recent extreme spikes on the air quality readings in the downtown area on the coldest days. It would be good to see if there is any correlation between the older peakers and the air quality. Ideally this information could be posted on the PMLP website. – RS
Resources:
Tips for Using PurpleAir’s Free Air Quality Map
https://www2.purpleair.com/…/tips-for-using-purpleair-s…
Go to US EPA PM2.5 by PurpleAir to manipulate the map.
https://map.purpleair.com/air-quality-standards-us-epa…
Grid Info
https://www.gridinfo.com/plant/waters-river/1678
PMLP Statement on Unit 1
https://pmlp.com/…/Statement-from-PMLP-Regarding-Waters…
Energy Awareness Forum | Peabody Municipal Light Plant, MA)
