By Seth Daniel
National Grid is preparing to significantly upgrade the electricity needs of the City of Everett, and much of that has to do with the increased development and investment in the area.
The company was scheduled to have a public meeting Tuesday night, June 13, too late for Independent deadlines. However, officials from National Grid said they would be detailing a plan to build a major new substation on Charlton Street in the Lower Broadway area – next to the new Wynn Design and Development building.
Dan Cameron of National Grid said the company had purchased a triangular piece of land from Wynn Boston Harbor for the station, and would begin rolling out the plan to the community this month.
“The electric loads in the entire area in and around Everett have been on the rise for quite some time,” he said. “The economy is booming and a lot of existing customers like DistriGas…Teddie Peanut Butter and Mellon Bank – they are all doing well. That part of Everett is on the outskirts of our coverage area – as Eversource starts at the Boston line…Now with the Wynn resort and others coming on after Wynn, we expect a lot more load.”
To address those upcoming and existing needs, Cameron said the company’s planning department has begun to look at the need for a new substation on Lower Broadway.
Cameron said the site is in a perfect location because a substation needs to tie into an existing transmission line, and there are two such lines coming out of the Exelon plant right in the area.
“There hasn’t been something like this in Everett for a long, long time,” he said. “Substations are more common in suburban areas , but the need is really there for this one.”
David Arthur of National Grid said that 75 percent of the new substation’s power would go to Everett customers that are not Wynn.
He said the company is rolling out the plan to the community first, and will begin engineering the plan in July. They hope to have a final plan in place in June 2019. He said he hopes construction would begin in Fall 2019, and construction would complete in December 2020.
Councilor Michael McLaughlin said he is in favor of the project, which is in his area, and he supports the new investment.
“I appreciate the open and working relationship I have built between National Grid and myself,” he said. “National Grid has been given a very challenging job. They are tasked at having the ability to service the new growth across Everett as well as keeping every resident’s service at a high standard. I believe the new substation and other area upgrades are the next step in the betterment of the service for the city of Everett’s commercial and residential customers.”
The substation would be converting the power down from the transmission lines – going from 115 kV to 13 kV. Six feeder lines of 13 kV would then go out from the station. One in on the lines, existing transformers on poles or underground downgrade the power even more for consumer use.
“We think this is going to be a big boost for the entire city,” said Cameron.