Rowley MLP says Citizens’ renegotiation has stalled battery-storage project, manager says

General Manager Matthew Brown told the Rowley Municipal Lighting Plant commissioners that negotiations with Citizens over the revenue split for three planned battery-storage systems have stalled. Brown said the parties met with Scott Edwards of GML and that Citizens is seeking a larger share of Frequency Response revenue while reducing Transmission and Capacity payments, which undermines the business case as originally agreed.

Brown said the Frequency Response market “isn’t as profitable as they thought,” and that Citizens has indicated it will respond with a formal position in the coming weeks. Brown described the change as a request to re‑negotiate the percentage of shared savings previously agreed to for the three systems; he said the systems and GML agreed that Citizens needs to honor the original terms for the project to move forward.

Why it matters: the three battery systems were part of the plant’s distributed-energy plans, and changes to the revenue-split could affect projected returns and whether the installations proceed on the planned timetable. The board did not take a formal vote on the issue during the meeting.

What’s next: Brown said the office had heard back from Citizens that morning and expects a follow-up response in the coming weeks. The commissioners did not set a formal deadline or direct staff to take additional steps at this meeting.