Norwood Municipal Light reports multi‑year cable and broadband build; landfill solar delayed to spring-summer 2026

Dan Morrissey, chief operating officer of the Norwood Municipal Light Department, told the Board of Selectmen the department is advancing several multi‑year infrastructure projects aimed at reducing outages, supporting growth and finishing a town fiber broadband plant.

The department is replacing aging underground feeder cable “paper insulated lead covered” cable with modern EPR cable; Morrissey said deliveries should begin in October and the work will take about a year to a year and a half. He said the replacement will bring cables installed in the 1970s to current standards and reduce feeder outages.

Morrissey said a separate bid package to install underground conduit on Pleasant Street (from Pleasant Place to Moore Street) is nearly complete with a likely October–November advertisement for spring construction. He described work this fall to decommission old switchgear at the department’s 206 Central Street facility and scheduled conduit repairs at the Springville Road substation, the latter done in coordination with Moderna and starting in October.

On overhead infrastructure, Morrissey said Verizon inspected every pole in the system and that Norwood is managing a multi‑year pole replacement program; the department has…