Danvers Meeting On Proposed Peabody Peaker Power Plant Friday

DANVERS, MA — Representatives from the agency behind the proposed gas and oil surge capacity Peabody power plant will meet with Danvers officials on Friday morning ahead of a decision next week whether to extend the 30-day minimum pause on the long-planned project.

The meeting will be at 10 a.m. in the Daniel J. Toomey Room at Danvers Town Hall.

While the public is invited to attend the meeting, which will be streamed live on the Danvers Community Access Television YouTube page, a Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company spokesperson told Patch on Thursday there will be "no public comment or question period."

The meeting comes after MMWEC representatives pledged more communication with towns surrounding the Waters Street substation site where the peaker plant is proposed as they determine whether to proceed with the project that was placed on the 30-day minimum pause on May 11 amid growing vocal concerns about the project from government officials, climate advocacy groups and nearby residents.

A public forum lasting four hours was held at Peabody's Torigian Center on June 22 where MMWEC officials largely defended the need for the plant to provide surge capacity energy in extreme conditions, while most of those who spoke during public comment urged the company to find alternative sources of capacity power that do not involve a new fossil fuel-powered plant.

"It was immensely helpful to discuss all aspects and views of the project," MMWEC spokesperson Kate Roy said after that forum. "We look forward to a continuation of these communications as we address the capacity needs of our member municipal light departments."

Roy told Patch on Thursday that the MMWEC has a deadline of next Thursday with the Department of Public Utilities to state whether it is prepared to proceed with Project 2015A, whether it needs additional time to determine whether it is prepared to proceed, and if so, how much additional time is necessary to make that determination.

She said the Board of Directors is still discussing and considering the next steps.

Utility officials argued having the 55-megawatt oil and gas peaker plant, which they say will only run about 239 hours per year and produce fewer emissions than 94 percent of similar resources in the region, will help the 14 municipalities that draw energy from the plant — including Peabody and Marblehead — use more renewable energy sources because having the reliable backup will allow it to use more clean sources for primary energy needs as the state moves toward the goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

Opponents have repeatedly argued that any additional use of fossil fuels is a step backward in climate-control efforts and that putting the plant on the Peabody/Danvers line adds more potential quality-of-life and health implications to an already-overburdened environmental justice area.

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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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