By: Emilia Wisniewski

Source: MetroWest Daily News

In an effort to meet state climate goals, state agencies and municipalities have recently implemented ways to decarbonize power plants that come online during peak energy usage.

The state Office of Energy Transformation has launched applications for the Decarbonize the Peak Workforce Group, a select number of applicants who will offer suggestions on how so-called peaking power plants can reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

“We’re doing all of this with a focus on equity, affordability and economic opportunity … that is a pillar of how we’re moving forward, how we’re engaging and how we’re going to be transforming our energy ecosystem here in Massachusetts,” said OET Executive Director Melissa Lavinson during an Oct. 7 virtual meeting announcing the group.

What is a peaking power plant?

A peaking power plant, also known as a “peaker” plant, is only utilized during maximum demand for energy, typically during summer and winter months. Peaker plants contribute about 15% of the state’s grid operators total resource capacity but release a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gases and air pollutants

Most of the 21 peaker plants in Massachusetts are more than 30 years old and burn oil, natural gas or a mix of both.

“(Oil and gas plants) tend to be less efficient than other fossil fuel gas plants on the grid,” said Elena Krieger, director of research at policy institute PSE Health Energy. “In Massachusetts, there’s more oil burning plants than in most other states, and they have higher pollutant emissions.”

In MetroWest, five plants averaged more than 330,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide between 2020 and 2022. In the same time span, those plants produced about 80 metric tons of nitrogen dioxide, a harmful gas that at high levels can affect one’s health.

Batteries have emerged as cleaner substitute

Experts say transitioning to battery-powered facilities would be more efficient, less expensive and significantly reduce fossil fuel emissions. Krieger said the price of batteries has dropped by about 90% over the past decade, and that batteries have been successfully installed and used in states like California.

“Battery storage technology has gotten to a point where it could feasibly play the role of a peaker and could be used to replace peaker plants,” said Abbe Ramanan, a project director with Clean Energy Group, a Montpelier, Vermont-based nonprofit that works toward clean energy innovation. “There’s no need to keep these plants online for longer than necessary.”

Communities like West Springfield and Wellesley have adopted battery storage systems at their respective plants. On Thursday, officials “flipped the switch” to energize a 4.99-megawatt battery energy storage system (BESS) at the Wellesley Municipal Light plant.

But peaker plants are still being built in Massachusetts. The state approved construction of a plant in Peabody in 2022 and residents have staged large-scale protests ever since, though the plant completed construction and began running this past summer.

Peabody resident Jerry Halberstadt, who has been involved in the protests, helped launch the Breathe Clean North Shore initiative with several state environmental groups. Halberstadt suffers from asthma and has to track the air quality levels every day to determine whether he can go outside.

“A peaker plant may only put out a small increment of the total, so why add it? Why add that pollution when you can avoid it?” Halberstadt asked. “Anything that continues to rely on fossil fuel for a minute longer, when all the options to avoid it have been considered … We’ve got to stop it.”

Barriers the state has in implementing cleaner solutions

A large problem Massachusetts faces into transitioning to alternative energy sources is the state’s grid operator, ISO New England. Advocates say the entity is notoriously difficult to contact and is opaque in sharing information.

Mireille Bejjani, co-executive director of environmental advocacy group Slingshot, is a facilitator for the Fix the Grid campaign that aims to communicate with ISO New England to update its electric grid to be more renewable.

She said ISO New England started hosting board meetings annually since 2022 but added it’s still difficult to have “meaningful conversations” during those meetings.