The power station began operations in the 1960s and was one of the largest in New England, standing on a 306-acre site. The plant had 262 full-time staff, with four power generating units powering in the region of 1.5 million homes using coal, natural gas and oil as its fuel sources. Its energy outputs from the four units were:
Unit 1: 243 megawatts
Unit 2: 240 megawatts
Unit 3: 612 megawatts
Unit 4: 435 megawatts
Brayton Power Station had been estimated to burn 40,000 tons of coal in three days, and fresh supplies were brought by barge every four days. The coal was brought from Colombia, Kentucky, and Colorado.
Environmental improvements
With regulations and concerns from the public, Dominion agreed to make investments to improve in the environmental impacts of the plant in two areas. The first area was to decrease emissions of mercury, sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide through the implementation of a system called Novel Integrated Desulphurization. The NID injects lime to allow its reaction with the fumes to separate chemicals from the smoke which reduces the emissions of mercury and sulfur oxide. The company also implemented another system to pass the fumes through ammonia to reduce nitrogen oxide emission. The company reported having reduction of those emissions by 90 percents after the installation. The other area was to reduce the impact on the water consumption and the release of heated water which was killing fish. Dominion began construction of two 500-foot cooling towers in 2009, which were completed in 2011 at a cost of $600 million. This was to create a closed-cycle water cooling system whereby the heated water is cooled by the towers and the water is recycled back to be used in the system again. This stopped the heated water being released back to Mount Hope Bay.
Sale and shutdown
In March 2013, the Virginia-based owners Dominion announced that Equipower would purchase the power station. The purchase was closed in August 2013 as part of the $650 million deal that Energy Capital Partners took over three power plants, including two other plants in Illinois, the natural gas-fired Elwood Power Station and the coal-fired Kincaid Power Station. In September 2013, the new owners announced that the plant would be shut down in May 2017, citing low electricity prices as well as high costs to meet environmental standards and maintain aging facilities. It was the last coal-fired power station in Massachusetts.
Energy Legislation to assist with 'renewable resources' at Brayton Point
1997 Restructuring Act - Opened the electricity market to competition and innovation, setting the stage to over 109,000 clean energy jobs in the state today.
2008 Green Communities Act - Created the Green Communities Program, aimed at providing financial assistance for efficiency and conservation projects at the municipal level. To qualify, a municipality must agree to a streamlined permitting process for new renewable projects and meet other benchmarks.
2016 Energy Diversity Act - Signed into law on August 8, 2016. Sets procurements for 1600 megawatts of offshore wind. These represent the largest purchase of clean energy in the Commonwealth's history.
Implementation of the 2016 Energy Diversity Act - On August 2, 2018, the electric utility companies signed contracts for an 800-megawatt offshore wind farm to be built by Vineyard Wind at a levelized price of 6.5 cents a kilowatt hour for 20 years. The offshore wind farm will result in 3,600 jobs in the region during the construction phase and has a 2021 in-service date.
