After a proclamation from Gov. Maura Healey declaring August as Hydropower Month, hydroelectricity leaders across the state, and more specifically in Franklin County, celebrated the renewed attention placed on one of the oldest varieties of clean energy.
The proclamation from the governor’s office notes that the state as a whole is home to 30 hydroelectric plants and two hydroelectric storage facilities, which represent 4% of Massachusetts’ total energy production. In Franklin County, two hydroelectric companies — Great River Hydro and FirstLight Hydro Generating Co. — celebrated the news.
The proclamation states that the occasion “honors hydropower’s legacy in building our state’s economic prosperity and its continuing role in providing affordable baseload power while preserving our state’s natural resources.”
“At FirstLight, I think we celebrate hydropower every day,” said FirstLight spokesperson Claire Belanger. “It’s kind of funny to think about it being a day or a month, because for our team it’s their lives, it’s their work, it’s so embedded in the fabric of what we do. I think it’s a moment for everyone else to appreciate it, [for people who] aren’t embedded in it as much as we are.”
A similar sentiment was voiced by Brandon Kibbe, vice president of external affairs at Great River Hydro. He said that because hydroelectric power has been around for so long, sometimes it can fade into the background and not be as propped up as it should be. But with this recognition from the governor’s office, he hopes people across the state will appreciate the importance and longevity of hydropower.
“Bottom line is, we’ve been operating on the landscape for a very long time. Our facilities on the Deerfield River, for instance, were built and came online in 1912,” Kibbe said. “Because we’ve been on the landscape for so long, for so many generations, I think we have just sort of faded into the background in terms of people’s understanding of what we do and what we are all about. … The fact is, we’ve been producing for Massachusetts and for our communities for well over a century.
“For the governor to recognize our industry in that way is really very meaningful to us because it kind of pulls back that curtain,” Kibbe continued, “and shines a light on the great work that we’ve been doing.”
Before Healey declared August as Hydropower Month in Massachusetts, National Hydropower Day took place across the country on Aug. 24. Kibbe said that as an industry, that’s the day hydropower companies shine, which Great River Hydro did by spreading the word of what role the company plays in the Franklin County community.
At FirstLight, it was a chance to remind the community that hydroelectric power is one of the oldest forms of clean energy.
“It’s sort of a legacy resource. We have assets that have been around for 100 years [or] 50 years and really still continue to play a meaningful role in our energy supply and in our ability to flick the lights on,” Belanger said. “It’s rare that you get a resource that has as much value 50 to 100 years later as it did when it was first built.”
In her proclamation, Healey didn’t just mention the energy production that hydropower facilities provide. She wrote that in recognizing August as Hydropower Month, she was also recognizing the recreational activities that the whitewater releases from the hydropower facilities make possible.
Recently, whitewater releases were secured on the Deerfield River for the next 40 years after a contract was awarded by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to Bear Swamp Power Co. for operating its hydroelectric power station on the Deerfield River in the towns of Monroe and Florida.
And while these alternative uses for the hydropower facilities exist, the main reason for providing power to the community is not lost on Great River Hydro or FirstLight.
“We own Northfield Mountain, which is a pumped hydro, and Cabot Station in Turners Falls … and it powers communities across the state,” Belanger said. “It provides local jobs and supports our communities. It’s a real [point of pride] for us, and we’re really proud to see its value continue to shine.”
