Belmont Light Holds Ribbon Cutting at Blair Pond Substation

Several local and state officials, community leaders, residents and Belmont Light staff recently gathered at Belmont Light’s Blair Pond Substation for a ribbon-cutting ceremony that signaled the official opening of the 60 MW substation and its connecting 115kV transmission line. Belmont Light General Manager Jim Palmer was joined by State Senator Will Brownsberger, Selectmen Jim Williams, Mark Paolillo, and Adam Dash, and former Selectman and current Light Board Advisory Committee Member Ralph Jones in cutting the ribbon on the 20 Flanders Road building.

The May 6^th ceremony marked the completion of a decade-long undertaking to address the utility’s increasing electric demand that was near-capacity at 30 MW, and an aging distribution system that was becoming unreliable and expensive to maintain. The project, which began its construction phase in 2011, is the result of the cooperative efforts of several Town boards, officials, and committees, State agencies, Town Meeting, and Eversource.

“The Blair Pond Substation and the connecting 115 kV transmission line ensures a reliable power supply for the community for decades,” Palmer said in his welcoming remarks. “The project we officially celebrate today is a tremendous success story for the Town of Belmont, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the New England power grid.”

His remarks were echoed by Sen. Brownsberger, who acknowledged the significance of the project and the positive impact the substation will have in providing a reliable power supply for decades. He congratulated the individuals and committees who were responsible for bringing the project to a very successful completion.

Jones provided an overview of the project, which began nearly 10 years earlier with the recognition that demand was increasing and the infrastructure was aging. He, too, acknowledged the hard work of all involved and the tremendous amount of work which led up to Town Meeting approval in February 2012. Jones singled out the Site Selection Committee for its work in identifying the site, fellow members of the Board of Selectmen and Advisory Board, and Town officials, including Treasurer Floyd Carman.

Williams, Chair of the Belmont Board of Selectmen and the Belmont Municipal Light Board, noted that the project was the ‘biggest single’ project for the community, one which replaced an aging system prone to brown-outs with a building and distribution system that will ensure power for decades.

He touched upon the project’s completion which came in under budget, referring to the Joint Development Agreement between Belmont Light and Eversource, which called for Belmont Light to construct the transmission line as part of the overall project and for Eversource to take ownership of the line and its maintenance upon completion. As a result of this agreement, the total cost of the substation and transmission line was $26.1 million, a savings of $27.6 million of the original anticipated cost of $53.7 million approved by Town Meeting.

The Blair Pond Substation was completed in October 2016 and the transmission line installation was completed the following December. Following a series of testing, the project was energized and will soon be powering Belmont.