peak power

When we are determined to find a solution, we say we will leave no stone unturned.

Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) and 14 participating municipal light plants have invested $30 million in a 55MW fossil fuel peaker plant in Peabody. What were they thinking? They don't yet have all the required regulatory and financial approvals needed to go forward. The peaker plant is not even likely to achieve the goals of providing inexpensive, reliable power to keep things running during times of extreme demand or crisis. Their plan faces strong opposition and risk, not only from clean energy advocates, but because of a failure of vision in their plan. Their goal is to continue to use fossil fuel technology to provide reliable, inexpensive service.

This letter was published by the Salem News on May 17, 2021

To the editor:

We must not continue to rely on fossil fuels for everything. There are new ways to provide reliable, affordable, renewable power. Can we provide the peak demand for electricity using renewables?

The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) is proposing to build a 55 MW natural gas and oil peaker power plant in Peabody, MA. Will this plant be an environmental, health, and safety threat to people in their homes, a school, and to a nearby dairy farm in Peabody and the Danversport area? Have these issues and the impact on the global climate crisis been evaluated? Have alternatives been considered? We don’t know, and the citizens of Peabody and Danvers have a right to know, as does every citizen of the Commonwealth.