Peakers on Pulaski Street in Peabody

Susan Smoller — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 20:40:22 +0000

It’s been nearly a decade since SP2015A entered our purview. While in the early days there wasn’t much information, we now have a boatload of info about MMWEC’s new peaker and, for the first time, cumulative statistics that include PMLP’s two gas-and-oil burning generators located next door.
The Waters River Power Station has grown to include the city’s two old generators and the new peaker owned by Mass. Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) on the same city owned lot. The state views this arrangement as two separate owners and therefore the project did not have to meet some requirements (i.e., full environmental and health review) because, individually, the owners’ generators create less than 100MW of power. Cumulatively, the site creates 128MW of power.
PMLP, with approximately 26,000 customers, is the third largest of 40 municipal electric utilities in the state. Its power supply comes from a variety of sources throughout the Northeast, including : two generators in Peabody owned and operated by PMLP as well as three exhaust emission stacks, three aboveground fuel oil storage tanks (110,000 gallon capacity each), and a 115 kilovolt (KV) substation whose interface with the transmission system is controlled by REMVEC, a satellite of the Independent System Operator-New England (ISO-NE).
Last month, the PMLP Commission approved $2.5 million dollars to upgrade their 115 kilovolt substation equipment at Waters River and Bartholomew Street substations. PMLP Manager Joe Anastasi said the required improvements at the 48-year-old, high-voltage substation were needed before the MMWEC project was added to the site. The arrangement means the city pays for it and MMWEC rents space. The amount of “rent” was not provided but to get MMWEC’s generation through Peabody’s substation and out the door to the transmission system, it goes through some of this new equipment.
In 2023, while MMWEC’s new peaker was being built, a 20-gallon, #2 diesel oil spill resulted from work on the new peaker plant. Thirty cubic yards of contaminated soil was removed from the Pulaski Street site. The release affected crushed stone and two catch basins that daylight into a nearby stream. A boom was placed into the catch basins. Not sure which entity paid for the clean-up or if the cost was shared.

Public Input A Must in Power Plant Projects: State Representatives

Susan Smoller — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 19:19:01 +0000

Go Reps Kerans, Walsh and friends! from Peabody Patch
https://patch.com/massachusetts/peabody/public-input-must-power-plant-projects-state-representatives?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwAR2p0TVGeMWI5EFsfZnz_YAntXY1ou1IaClY8W7t9QII9j_IscV7wMHvUOQ

CLG ISO-NE Meeting, June 8, Peabody

Susan Smoller — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 17:59:50 +0000

Weren’t able to attend last month’s meeting? Here’s a recording of the event: https://vimeo.com/836268643

Mythbusting Your Rising Electric Bill

Susan Smoller — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 00:47:05 +0000

Whose getting your money?

With the help of experts across the region, we’ll be digging in on where the money we pay goes, why bills are going up so much this winter, what our grid operator ISO-NE has to do with all of it, and where we go from here to achieve a more affordable, more accessible, and more accountable electric system.
Register here! https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZclc-mprTwtGNJkREaOTCe0V4E…

ISO-NE – Breathe Clean North Shore

Peakers on Pulaski Street in Peabody

Public Input A Must in Power Plant Projects: State Representatives

CLG ISO-NE Meeting, June 8, Peabody

Mythbusting Your Rising Electric Bill