Client: Massachusetts Climate Action Network
Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD, Chirag Lala, and Joshua Castigliego
March 2022
On behalf of the Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN), AEC staff developed a policy brief that presents risks that Municipal Light Plants (MLPs) should consider as they decide whether to retain their ownership shares in the Peabody peaking power plant or withdraw from the contract: 1) market risks, like capacity and fuel prices, and 2) climate/environmental risks. We find that while ownership in the Peabody peaker protects against some capacity market risks, it leaves MLPs open to a variety of other important risks, including uncertainty in future gas fuel prices. existing Massachusetts emissions regulations and Environmental Justice (EJ) community protection laws, and the potential for stronger EJ laws, new federal legislation, and/or regulatory changes that put fossil fuel-fired assets at a disadvantage.