How It Works In The Community

Impact on the local economy

The Energy Center represents a $400 million dollar investment in construction and component installation, bringing valuable construction-related economic activity over several periods of several years. In the long term, between 15 and 20 permanent, high-skill, licensed positions will be created to operate and maintain the facility.

For the broader economy, residential and commercial rate-payers in the public power communities supplied by the Energy Center will be far better protected from fluctuations in the open energy market than other ratepayers dependent on short-term markets. This will help businesses and residents budget more effectively for their energy costs.

Impact on Westfield's neighborhoods & character

The Energy Center will be located in a long-established industrial zone, surrounded on all sides by other industrial development. The plot is 35 acres; development will take place on 13 of those acres; the facility itself will be 60,000 square feet. The character of residential and store-front areas will be untouched. Also, because natural gas is supplied by pipeline, traffic impact will be no different than a typical non-ground-distribution business.

Impact on the environment

Water:   While the Energy Center is designed to be water cooled, it will not draw water from the Westfield River to cool machinery. The Energy Center will utilize existing water mains to draw water from the Tighe-Carmody Reservoir in Holyoke.

Air:   The Energy Center is designed to burn the lowest sulfur fuels, and the carbon emissions from natural gas are only a third of what is produced by coal-fired facilities (where much of the power bought on the open market originates). All Clean Air Act directives will be followed in developing the emission/exhaust system, including a stack consistent in height with other properties in this industrial zone. (Stack height is also being designed with consideration for nearby Barnes Air Force Base; the FAA will be consulted in all relevant development phases.)

Wildlife:  In developing the Energy Center, Massachusetts Fish & Wildlife has already been involved, helping develop habitat preservation criteria for the endangered Eastern Box Turtles living on some parts of the 35-acre plot. Other recent commercial development in the area established an effective, sanctioned set of practices for enabling the turtles to be undisturbed by adjacent buildings and traffic. The Energy Center will work closely with Fish & Wildlife to establish similarly effective measures on its site.