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New England Power seeks permanent Snake Hill substation to serve Amazon facility
Summary
At a July 15 hearing, New England Power presented plans for a permanent Snake Hill Substation (No. 2235) to replace a temporary unit that supported construction of an Amazon warehouse; the 49,300 sq ft yard, 864 sq ft control building and security fencing drew questions on wildlife, decommissioning and plan details. (Continued to Sept. 2.)
The Town of Charlton Planning Board heard a presentation on July 15 from project counsel Judy Fenn and the New England Power project team on a proposal to build a permanent electrical substation (Snake Hill Substation No. 2235) to serve a new Amazon warehouse. The applicant described a roughly 49,300-square-foot substation yard, an 864-square-foot control house, security fencing to National Grid standards (8-foot chain link with one foot of barbed wire) and related stormwater and underground systems.
"We're here tonight ... for a special permit for the construction and installation of an electric substation along Snake Hill Road and Carpenter Hill Road to be known as the Snake Hill Substation Number 2235," project counsel Judy Fenn said. The team said the permanent facility would replace a modular temporary substation installed during Amazon construction and that the temporary unit and feeder would be removed after the new substation is commissioned.
Board members and residents raised questions about the substation's visual impact, clearing, security and whether future renewable generation could tie into the facility. A company representative described existing on-site infrastructure, saying the temporary unit is south of the solar array and that the new installation would tap a different transmission line (discussed in the hearing using internal line labels) and step down voltage for distribution.
Residents stressed wildlife and clearing concerns. "What keeps happening in town is wildlife fragmentation as we're taking large tracts of land, removing all the trees and fencing it in," one resident said, asking whether portions of the parcel could be preserved. Project counsel replied that the company is constrained by electric-safety codes but that any future expansion would return to the Board and conservation review.
Board members also pressed the applicant on decommissioning. The company said a formal decommissioning plan for removal of the temporary substation was not part of the current filing but that the temporary facility would be retired during the outage that cuts over service to the permanent substation and that equipment would be removed or reused per asset management practice.
The board moved, seconded and voted to continue the New England Power public hearing to the board's September 2 meeting to allow the project team to supply outstanding peer-review responses and updated civil plans.
