Opposition Remains As Proposed Peabody Generator Project Proceeds

PEABODY, MA — Citizens and environmental advocacy groups opposed to the planned surge capacity generator at Peabody's Waters River substation are pressing their hopes of halting or altering the project even as the utility company pursuing the generator resumes the funding process through the state's Department of Public Utilities.

The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company concluded a two-month "pause" in the long-planned Project 2015A on July 16 with a determination that the fossil fuel-powered 55-megawatt generator remains the most affordable and reliable way to meet the surge capacity energy needs of its 14 member power plants – including Marblehead and Peabody.

The MMWEC did make some concessions — including relaying the Peabody Municipal Light Company's pledge to wind down a smaller, 20-megawatt generator at the substation when the newer, more efficient one comes on line — but those were not enough for those opposed to any new generator that operates on natural gas or diesel oil.

In an open letter to Gov. Charlie Baker, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Katherine Theoharides and Acting Department of Public Health Commissioner Margret Cooke this week, Peabody resident Jerry Halberstadt urged Baker to step in and stop the project because he said it violates the spirit of the recently signed New Generation Roadmap of moving the state toward becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

"There are alternatives for municipal light plants to meet their capacity obligations," Halberstadt, who represents the Clean Power Coalition and Breathe Clean North Shore, said in the open letter. "They can purchase capacity. Local efforts can reduce power and capacity needs while increasing reliability. Battery peak solutions are less costly and more reliable than gas turbines, and gas turbines are no better at providing essential power during long winter storm emergencies."

MMWEC officials held a public forum in Peabody and a meeting with town and state officials in Danvers last month in an attempt to address many of these concerns. They said at the meetings that purchasing capacity power on the open market during extreme weather events would create high, unpredictable costs for ratepayers, that renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are not yet reliable enough to meet capacity needs in a peak emergency and that using battery power would require six times as much space and be twice as expensive as the current project.

Halberstadt argues that the new generator would further burden the environmental justice community of Peabody, and that other sites could be considered that could house the larger battery footprint. MMWEC officials said other sites were considered during the long planning process that began six years ago, but that those would have meant taking away green space, while Peabody is already a "fenced-in, disrupted area."

The MMWEC has repeatedly said the new generator is expected to operate about 239 hours a year under extreme weather conditions and is 94 percent more efficient than current generators being used across the state.

"While it may be less polluting than older plants, it would actually contribute to public health, environmental, and climate burdens," Halberstadt said.

State Rep. Sally Kerans and Peabody health officials have also asked MMWEC to voluntarily commission a full Environmental Impact Report and comprehensive health impact assessment before proceeding with the project, even though that is not required under state guidelines.

MMWEC officials said in announcing the company was proceeding with the project that it "exercised due diligence and re-examined the project (including termination); project participant needs, obligations and rates; and alternative technologies (including battery storage). MMWEC also reexamined environmental justice issues and concerns related to the project."

Opponents say MMWEC did not go far enough.

"The many concerns of citizens and experts have not received a hearing, MMWEC has not provided any verifiable justifications, and DPU has failed to act according to the mandates of the Next Generation Roadmap (Acts 2021 Chapter 8)," Halberstadt said in his request to Baker. "Therefore, we urge you to immediately intervene to ensure that the law is followed, and most important, to assure a better future for our grandchildren."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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