By Carol Britton Meyer

For the fifth year in a row, the Hull Municipal Light Plant is installing generators to provide electricity to the entire town should a major National Grid power outage occur this winter.

The placement of rented back-up generators in trailers located at the Department of Conservation and Recreation lot near the traffic lights on George Washington Boulevard remains a year-by-year decision by the light board. The generators will be set to go in the event of an emergency from December 1 through March 31 at an estimated cost of $750,000.

National Grid-related power losses are often of long duration and are more difficult to resolve than ones that fall under the purview of Hull’s light plant because many of the feeder lines are located in Hingham in a wooded area that can be difficult to access, especially at nighttime.

“The generators will provide power to Hull in the event of an outage to the single, non-hardened National Grid line that services the town,” Town Manager Jennifer Constable told The Hull Times. “Moreover, they will provide security to businesses and households that do not have a generator and would be adversely impacted during an outage, particularly in the winter months and in a period of time when we are seeing increasingly unpredictable and impactful storms.”

The total cost to date of the generators, which were first installed in 2020, is about $2.6 million – including the initial work to build the site and the annual maintenance of the existing infrastructure. Since 2021, the cost has been paid by ratepayers through their electricity bills.

The placement of permanent generators has not yet been determined by the light board and is something that may be considered moving forward, according to Constable.

“However, the permanent placement of generators would require securing a permit location and additional, applicable permitting,” she said. “The light board and plant understand the value of the generators to the community and are open to exploring any and all efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly alternatives.”

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