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 identified about 343 poles needing attention and has completed about 103 so far. He noted the department replaces poles rather than rely on braces because pole height — and the increasing number of attachments on poles — is the core issue.

Morrissey and Assistant Superintendent Jason Haber described work supporting local commercial customers. The department assisted Home Market Foods and FM Global Electric with site builds, and Morrissey said Amazon added roughly 196 vehicle chargers at its local site; the vendor told the light department those vans will charge overnight (Morrissey said the company expects most charging between about 11 p.m. and 9 a.m.), which the department said would help even out the system’s load profile.

On the landfill solar project, Morrissey said he had spoken that day with the project owner and was disappointed with progress. The project’s original EPC contractor, Milton Cat, is no longer on the job; the owner has contracted Optum EPC as the replacement. Morrissey said panels, transformers and switchgear are on order, but ballast racking deliveries — the hardware needed to mount panels on the capped landfill — have been repeatedly delayed by the racking supplier. He said the owner still targets production by June 2026 (Morrissey previously told the board March was a target) but that site work may not begin until fall or winter depending on the racking schedule. The department said it will require a letter of credit when construction begins and that penalty clauses exist in the contract.

Morrissey and Haber summarized customer-facing programs. The utility reported $217,000 in rebate awards in the first eight months of the year for appliance, thermostat and heat pump incentives and about $33,000 awarded to four residential solar projects; the town retains the solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) from those projects toward its non‑carbon portfolio. The department said average retail revenue per kilowatt‑hour is a little over 17 cents and that sales are up roughly 1% year‑to‑date compared with the same period in 2024.

Broadband manager Rich O’Reilly said the town’s “to‑the‑premises” fiber build is about 82% complete and that the infrastructure (the headend out to the plant) should be finished by Nov. 30; multi‑dwelling unit hookups and some in‑building work will continue after that date. O’Reilly said the department will increase customer education and targeted marketing after the November completion to help residents migrate from cable to streaming and to demonstrate tools such as the department’s “my bundle” streaming configurator. He said the contractor field crew has been responsive and the build has generated few residential complaints so far.

Why it matters: the projects described — underground cable replacement, pole work, substation repairs, large commercial chargers, and the broadband rollout — affect system reliability and customer service across Norwood. The landfill solar project, if completed as now scheduled, would add renewable supply and contribute SRECs to the light department’s non‑carbon portfolio. Delays and supply‑chain issues could push commercial benefits and tax and revenue assumptions into later budget years.

Board members asked about contract protections; Morrissey confirmed contractual penalty provisions and said the town will require a letter of credit before construction begins. He also clarified that energy from the landfill will interconnect on a medium‑voltage three‑phase line near Winter/Rugby Road and flow into the system where it mixes with other local load.

The board did not take formal action during the presentation; staff said they will return with regular updates as the broadband and solar projects advance.