It’s time to decommission and remove the hulking monstrosity known as the Wyman Energy Station, on Cousins Island in Yarmouth.
Built in 1957 and enlarged in 1978, the plant, in its heyday, could produce enough electricity to power 600,000 homes. Now it sits mostly idle as cheaper natural gas generators and alternative-energy producers come online. It has been “turned on” only a handful of times in the past five years.
The plant is owned by NextEra, which has recently added huge batteries that store electricity during low demand and release it during peak demand. An archived fact sheet on NextEra’s own website claims the plant “provides employment opportunities, adds (a) tax base to the city, supports … (the local) economy … (and) supports … community organizations.”
Three years ago, Wyman Energy Station employed fewer than 50 people. Its contribution to Yarmouth’s tax base has shrunk to negligible, and I know of no community organizations supported by NextEra. It does have a huge negative impact on the market value of properties facing its ugly, Soviet-era appearance.
Perhaps the site could be cleaned up and returned to its natural beauty as a landmark preserve and recreation site for all of the residents and visitors to the Casco Bay area to enjoy. NextEra touts itself as “a leading clean energy provider operating wind, natural gas, solar and nuclear power plants.” Clearly, Wyman Energy Station was built for the last era and not the current or next era.
Mark Scheffer
Yarmouth
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.