LWN060922
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
JUNE 9, 2022<br />
WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 781-593-7700 13<br />
2022 College Acceptances at Lynnfield High School<br />
The University of Alabama<br />
High Point University<br />
Providence College<br />
University of New England<br />
American University<br />
Hobart College<br />
Purdue University<br />
Union College<br />
Arizona State University<br />
Holy Cross University<br />
Quinnipiac University<br />
University of Maryland<br />
Assumption University<br />
Indiana University<br />
Regis College<br />
University of Miami-Ohio<br />
Bates College<br />
Ithaca College<br />
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute<br />
University of Arizona<br />
Baylor University Waco Texas<br />
James Madison University<br />
Rhode Island School of Design<br />
University of Central Florida<br />
Bentley University<br />
Johnson and Wales<br />
Roger Williams University<br />
University of Colorado - Boulder<br />
Boston University<br />
Kent State University<br />
Rutgers University<br />
University of Connecticut<br />
Bridewater State University<br />
La Salle University<br />
Sacred Heart University<br />
University of Delaware<br />
Bryant University<br />
Lafayette College<br />
Saint Joseph University<br />
University of Florida<br />
Bunker Hill Community College<br />
Lasell University<br />
Salem State University<br />
University of Maine<br />
Clark University<br />
Lesley University<br />
Salve Regina University<br />
University of Miami<br />
Clemson University<br />
Louisiana State University<br />
Seton Hall University<br />
University of New Hampshire<br />
Coastal Carolina University<br />
Loyola University Chicago<br />
Simmons College<br />
University of New Haven<br />
Colby Sawyer<br />
Lynn University<br />
Southern New Hampshire University<br />
University of Pittsburgh<br />
College of Charleston<br />
Maine Maritime Academy<br />
Springfield College<br />
University of Rhode Island<br />
Connecticut College<br />
Manhattan College<br />
St. Anselm College<br />
University of Rochester<br />
Dartmouth College<br />
Marist College<br />
St. John’s University<br />
University of South Carolina<br />
DePaul University<br />
Marquette University<br />
St. Joseph’s of Maine<br />
University of South Florida<br />
East Carolina University<br />
Marymount Manhattan College<br />
St. Michael’s College<br />
University of Tampa<br />
Elon University<br />
Mass College of Pharmacy<br />
Stonehill College<br />
University of Tennessee<br />
Emory College<br />
Merrimack College<br />
Stony Brook University<br />
University of Toronto<br />
Endicott College<br />
Miami Ohio University<br />
Suffolk University<br />
University of Vermont<br />
Fairfield University<br />
Michigan State University<br />
Syracuse University<br />
University of Wisconsin - Madison<br />
Florida Atlantic University<br />
Montclair State University<br />
Temple University<br />
Villanova University<br />
Florida Gulf Coast University<br />
Muhlenberg College<br />
Texas Tech University<br />
Virginia Tech<br />
Fordham University<br />
Northeastern University<br />
Trinity College<br />
Wentworth Institute of Technology<br />
Framingham State University<br />
Pace University<br />
University of Findlay Ohio<br />
Western University<br />
Franklin Pierce University<br />
Penn State University<br />
University of Massachusetts Amherst<br />
Westfield State University<br />
George Washington University<br />
Plymouth State University<br />
Umass Boston<br />
Worcester Polytechnic Institute<br />
Gordon College<br />
Point Park University<br />
Umass Dartmouth<br />
Xavier University<br />
An effective peak capacity generator for Peabody<br />
Editor’s Note: The proposed plant, known as Project 2015A, will be operated by the Peabody Municipal Light Plant,<br />
which provides electricity to the City of Peabody and parts of Lynnfield.<br />
For the Weekly News<br />
By Dr. Rob Moir<br />
PEABODY - A small armada<br />
of kayaks and canoe paddled<br />
while peak capacity generator<br />
protestors stood on the Water<br />
Street Bridge waving signs at<br />
passing traffic in late May.<br />
I was appointed sweeper at<br />
the stern of a canoe following<br />
the paddlers. We launched the<br />
boats into the Porter River at<br />
Pope’s Landing and at Sandy<br />
Beach, a snowy egret took<br />
flight while we made our way.<br />
A southwest breeze up the<br />
Danvers River buffeted the<br />
boats. Rounding into the Waters<br />
River, we were pushed under<br />
the front of a large docked boat<br />
that loomed over us.<br />
We paddled hard against<br />
wind and tide to clear the boat.<br />
Suddenly, the water seemed<br />
flat, with the wind at our backs,<br />
and the bridge ahead us. We<br />
encountered an abundance of<br />
energy in the salty river and<br />
the tide, where high water was<br />
about nine feet higher than low<br />
water.<br />
A short stroll up Pulaski<br />
Street past O’Brien’s Garden<br />
or a short paddle up the Waters<br />
River is where a peak capacity<br />
generator is to be built.<br />
The 55-megawatt generator<br />
is necessary to meet the surge<br />
capacity energy needs of 14<br />
power plants. At issue is not the<br />
generator but rather the burning<br />
of fossil fuels to power it.<br />
The use of fossil fuels violates<br />
the law of the Climate Change<br />
Next Generation Roadmap. The<br />
peak capacity generator would<br />
only operate as needed, about<br />
239 hours a year.<br />
That’s about 3 percent of the<br />
time, primarily during extreme<br />
weather events. Firing up gas<br />
turbines to run during a hurricane<br />
is not the best time to burn<br />
fossil fuels.<br />
One option is to install a<br />
lithium-ion battery-powered<br />
peak capacity generator. A<br />
300-megawatt peak capacity<br />
generator was built at Moss<br />
Landing in California and has<br />
been so successful that three<br />
nearby fossil-fuel power peak<br />
capacity generators have been<br />
closed down.<br />
Fortunately, the Peabody peak<br />
capacity generator needs only<br />
produce 55-megawatts, about<br />
one-sixth of the California lithium-ion<br />
leviathan.<br />
Alternatives to fossil fuels<br />
and expensive batteries include<br />
hydro systems, gravity-based<br />
impulse turbines, compressed<br />
air and flow batteries with<br />
pumped hydro being the most<br />
common.<br />
The Peabody peak capacity<br />
generator needs much less electricity<br />
than that. It is not the<br />
height of fall but simply the flow<br />
that turns turbines to provide the<br />
power. A cistern of water need<br />
not be very high or a catchment<br />
basin collecting rainwater with<br />
a backup pump to the Waters<br />
River would suffice. The pump<br />
could operate with tidal power<br />
as this is essentially a trickle<br />
charge. A water basin could become<br />
an attractive amenity with<br />
plantings around the perimeter<br />
by O’Brien Gardens with a cafe<br />
along the shore and ice skating<br />
in the winter.<br />
By not being a gas-powered<br />
hunk of a utility building, the<br />
Peabody peak capacity generator<br />
is spared the expense of<br />
rising fuel costs and the budgeting<br />
difficulty of not knowing<br />
future costs.<br />
A hydro-powered peak capacity<br />
generator will operate for<br />
more decades than the 50-year<br />
life span of a fossil fuel powered<br />
utility and, like the reservoirs<br />
that populate our landscape,<br />
become a social amenity<br />
for Peabody.<br />
Have a story to share?<br />
Need a question answered?<br />
contactus@essexmedia.group
Change language