Fulfilling the need for energy using the cleanest, most efficient gas-fired power generation technology
The global energy markets don't know the Pioneer Valley, but your local municipal power providers do. They're your neighbors. They will be our customers.
The Pioneer Valley Energy Center will be a clean and efficient source of energy for the region and will provide benefits to taxpayers in Westfield and ratepayers in Westfield and surrounding communities. The facility will also create jobs and economic benefits for the Pioneer Valley region. There will be minimal to zero impacts to traffic, air quality, noise, and water consumption to the residents.
What are the Benefits?
- Taxpayer benefits in Westfield
- Ratepayer benefits in Westfield and surrounding communities
- Local jobs and commerce
- Clean, efficient technology
The River is the Heart Of Westfield
The Westfield River is everyone's. Respecting that, the Pioneer Valley Energy Center is designed to not draw from the river or the aquifer to cool its generation system. The water-cooled system will instead use the existing infrastructure to draw water from a resource in Holyoke, the Tighe-Carmody Reservoir.
The Roads, Air, and Sky Should Be Clear
The Energy Center would be fired by natural gas nearly all the time (for more details, see our information page), discharging just a third of the carbon per mega-Watt as conventional, coal-fired power generation. Delivering natural gas to the facility won't add any trucks to
Westfield's roads, keeping the on-site development minimally disruptive to the surrounding properties' frontage, lighting, and noise levels.
How Technology Stands Behind This Facility
The power that the Energy Center generates will channel directly into the power supply for municipal power in Westfield and surrounding communities.
The components that generate the power for local homes and businesses will be cooled by water from the Tighe-Carmody Reservoir, a vast, resource in Holyoke. The use of this water will not affect Westfield or Holyoke’s drinking water or the Westfield River.
Relying on the cleanest fuels available anywhere, the Energy Center will provide 430,000 area homes with power.
