WILMINGTON, MA — Reading Municipal Light Department (RMLD) General Manager Coleen O’Brien was recently in front of the Wilmington Board of Selectmen, discussing her company’s desire to build a power substation in North Wilmington, on Route 125, in between the Ballardvale Street and Andover Street intersections.
RMLD initially thought the land in question belonged to National Grid, but it turned out to be owned by the Town of Wilmington. The discovery was a surprise to all — RMLD, National Grid, and town officials.
“We found a piece of land on 125 that was listed as being owned by National Grid,” explained O’Brien. “We spent the last two years in negotiations with them. Back and forth. Them doing appraisals. Us doing appraisals. We got all the way to the letter of intent. We were getting ready for a purchase and sale, but the title search showed the land did not belong to National Grid. It belonged to the Town of Wilmington.”
“When Route 125 came through, there was some eminent domain taking,” added O’Brien. “National Grid pretty much only owns the land directly underneath their power lines. The Town’s Assessor’s line ended up being incorrect.”
“The northern section of the parcel was not as originally depicted on the Assessor’s Map,” confirmed Town Manager Jeff Hull. “As a consequence, a piece of property that we believed to be owned by Natioanl Grid, it turns out is actually owned by the town.”
According to O’Brien, RMLD needs at least three acres of land to build a substation (1.5 acres) and microgrid (1.5 acres). The microgrid essentially serves as a battery backup system and is recommended by the state. There are 19 acres on the entire parcel.
O’Brien called the proposed parcel “perfect,” not just because it has sufficient space, but because of its location in North Wilmington and proximity to transmission lines.
“The new substation not only needs to located near transmission lines, but it should be centrally located where all the growth is coming in and the growth is in North Wilmington,” said O’Brien. We’ve spent the last 3 years for a piece of land in and around the Ballardvale Area, which would be centrally located in order to redistribute all the feeders within the service territory.”
O’Brien said the substation would be surrounded by wooden fencing and passerbyers wouldn’t even see it.
The Need For A New Power Substation
A new power substation in North Wilmington would allow Wilmington’s existing power substation on Wilwood Station to be downgraded to just a switching station.
“The Wildwood substation is at the end of its useful life. We’ve got to the point where we’ve done as much maintenance as we can. It’s just DONE,” O’Brien told Selectmen. “That substation is in an environmentally sensitive area with wetlands. It doesn’t provide us enough space in order to [build another].”
O’Brien listed several benefits to building a new substation, including (1) improving electrical reliability; (2) adding capacity for electrical load growth; (3) helping economic development in North Wilmington; (4) reducing power costs by lowering system losses and utilizing the micogrid during peak times; and (5) setting the town up for more providing utilities to any future town projects (e.g., fire substation) in the general vicinity.
“A new substation eliminates the critical situation of a failing substation with the potential of rolling blackouts,” stressed O’Brien. “The current substation is 40-50 years old… A new substation will significantly improve reliability and provide load relief to other stations…. A third party report agrees with our assessment.”
There’s A Hitch: The Land Has Special Restrictions Attached
The property being eyed by RMLD is classified as “Article 97 land.”
“The property was acquired by the town’s Water Department in 1938 for protection of the Brown Crossings Wellfield,” explained Town Manager Jeff Hull. “It is Article 97 land, which means in order to convey any portion of it, or to develop any portion of it, there is a requirement that both houses of legislature would have to act. I believe it requires a supermajority. Then the Governor would have to sign it. Then whatever property is conveyed, the town would have to identify a similar property and essentially replace the piece that was given up.”
Town Engineer Paul Alunni also noted there are wetlands in the middle of the entire 19-acre parcel, along with significant grade changes that would need to be covercome.
Hull also noted RMLD would also have to get permission from MassDOT to put an entrance off of Route 125.
Nevertheless, Hull sees merit in the proposal.
“I think between Analog Devices and the development in North Wilmington, it doesn’t sound like we can continue to rely upon a very outdate Wildwood station,” Hull said.
“This has to be done sooner than later. Time is of essence,” agreed O’Brien and her colleague. “We’re talking about three years before the substation would go online. The clock is ticking. Best case scenario, we’re probably purchasing this land in 2020 and would go online in 2022. It will take 12-18 months just to build the equipment we order.”
O’Brien is investigating if the need for a power substation would qualify as a public hardship, which may allow for the Article 97 requirements to be lifted or lessened.
O’Brien also noted that the substation could be built on 1.5 acres of land without a microgrid, if the town felt 3 acres were too much. O’Brien also suggested a power substation could complement a town building on the same parcel, such as a hockey rink or public safety substation.
“I don’t know if you were envisioning solar panels on top of your ice skating rink, but we should certainly tie it into the substation,” O’Brien noted.
Selectmen React
“The town owns the property now, in part, due to your due diligence,” Selectman Jonathan Eaton told O’Brien. “It’s certainly wise to work with RMLD so a substation is built there because of the hardship and concerns you’ve outlined. … We should structure this so you get what you want, and the town leaves its options for the very long term.”
Eaton asked O’Brien if RMLD would open to leasing the land from the town, rather than buying it. O’Brien suggested her board might be interested in such an option.
“At some point, the new substation is going to get to the same point that the Wildwood,” noted Eaton. “I think it might be wise of us to at least keep the option open that when this hypothetical substation is taken out of service decades from now, that the town might have a use for the land if RMLD does not.”
“I think finding this land is kind of like when you find a $20 in your winter coat,” began Selectwoman Jomarie O’Mahony. “I want to make sure we’re utilizing the land appropriately. I’d like to know more about what the land would look like and how we’d configure this so we can utilize the land for other needs of the town…. We need to have more of a discussion on how we can make this a win, win for everybody.”
“I would caution against looking at the entire parcel for full build out,” responded Hull. “The original intent of the property purchased back in 1938 was protection of the Brown Crossings Wellfield. I think there’s the prospect of looking at the upper edge along 125 potentially for a electrical substation as well as perhaps a fire substation.”
Hull noted it would be challenging to find 19 acres elsewhere to satisfy the Article 97 requirements. He also noted the importance of having buffer land protect the wellfields.
“There’s a little bit of pause from committee members about how we want to best utlize this property that we’ve come upon,” observed Selectmen Chair Greg Bendel. “We have some work to do internally.”
“I think we understand the urgency of a new power substation, no doubt about it. A fire substation also needs around 3 acres. You’re talking about a total of 6 acres out of 19 acres. As long as the well fields are protected, I think we should seriously look at both,” said Selectman Kevin Caira.
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