|
The Town of Wellesley Municipal Light Plant (WMLP) is a town department responsible for the transmission and supply of electricity to the residents and businesses in the town of Wellesley, Massachusetts. The headquarters of the WMLP is located at 455 Worcester Street, Wellesley, Massachusetts, and shares its grounds with the Wellesley Fire Department Headquarters and Town of Wellesley Department of Public Works. The WMLP serves 9,954 customers, of whom 8,812 are residential, 1,138 are commercial, and 4 are industrial. The largest customers (by electric demand) are Wellesley College, Babson College, Harvard Pilgrim, Sun Life Financial, and Wellesley Office Park. The WMLP holds membership in Northeast Public Power Association (NEPPA), American Public Power Association (APPA), and the Municipal Electric Association of Massachusetts (MEAM Mass). The WMLP has been the recipient of many awards and recognitions. It has received the NEPPA Commitment to Safety Award of 1986 - 1987, an American Public Power Association (APPA) award, and a gold award as a Reliable Public Power Provider in 2007 - 2008, to name a few. A municipal light plant does not produce electricity on its own. Power reaches the Town through substations and transforms high voltage to working home and commercial distribution within a sector. The WMLP has historically had attractive rates compared to other suppliers in the region and has had long term contracts with major generators. Today, the WMLP works on the national grid purchasing blocks of power under contracts over time. Current power is produced from Niagara Power of Canada and transferred to the US grid. About 80% to 90% of this power is produced via a hydro-electric dams from the Great Lakes and is among the least expensive and cleanest in the US. Subsequently, the electric rates in Wellesley are very cost effective and residents have attractive rates compared to other parts of the region, on a per mil watt cost per household. ==History of the WMLP== The Wellesley Municipal Light Plant was founded on December 13, 1892 as the Wellesley Electric Light Division of the Town of Wellesley Department of Public Works. Unlike most municipal light plants at the time, the Town of Wellesley built an entirely new plant for its new electric division instead of buying existing facilities. In 1892, Wellesley recorded a permanent population of 5,072 citizens. Wellesley Electric Light, however, serviced none of these people. In the beginning, Wellesley Electric Light purchased all of its current from the Natick Gas & Electric Company in neighboring Natick, Massachusetts, and devoted its capabilities exclusively to street lighting. A report from the Massachusetts Commission gives the first record of service to private customers in Wellesley on July 1, 1904, almost twelve years after the foundation of Wellesley Electric Light. The Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston, or Boston Edison (BECo; now NSTAR), operated in Wellesley alongside the Wellesley Electric Light Division. From 1904 until 1906, BECo rendered commercial lighting services in the town. In 1906, Wellesley Electric Light took control of the commercial lighting in the town and has distributed and managed the current for commercial lighting ever since. Wellesley's proximity to Boston and its strictly suburban feel instigated a population growth that gained intensity after World War II, akin to most other suburbs throughout the United States. As Wellesley's population increased and wealthier people moved into the town, Wellesley's infrastructure and commerce grew rapidly. These changes provided Wellesley Electric Light with more customers and greater revenue. With the large amounts of money Wellesley Electric Light was accumulating, the department upgraded and built more of its electrical system with new substations, overhead powerlines, and underground electric lines to support the increasing electric use. In 1959 the substation on Weston Road (Station 378) was completed. This substation was modified in 1970 and completely reconstructed in 2005. In 1967 the substation on Cedar Street (Station 453) was built, and in 1968 a new substation (Station 41) was completed and began distributing power to Wellesley Hills, effectively halting the original substation's use. Today, the WMLP has a total of 33 distribution lines throughout Wellesley and owns nine supply lines, six from the NSTAR substation in Newton, Massachusetts and three from the NSTAR substation in Needham, Massachusetts. The voltage supplied from the aforementioned substations in Newton and Needham enter Wellesley at 13,800 kV and are either distributed through the town at 13.8 kV or, through the substations and stepdown transformers, distributed at 4 kV. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wellesley Municipal Light Plant」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|