Community Benefits

Local Benefits for Walpole

The Walpole Energy Center will provide the town with significant new revenue through a PILOT* agreement without any additional costs for community services. When built, the Walpole Energy Center will provide $40 million in additional town revenue over the first 20 years of operation, and an additional $8 million in local fee revenue immediately.

*Payment In Lieu Of Taxes

Walpole has experienced a 32 percent tax increase in its town budget over the last four years. This increased revenue can be used to support local services such as schools, sports and recreation programs, and infrastructure maintenance and development — while reducing the burden on local taxpayers.

Local job creation

The proposed facility will create significant short term (two-year) and long term employment opportunities for people in the area.

400 construction jobs (Union) over a two-year period
25 well-paying permanent jobs once the facility is constructed
Plant construction and operation creates increased economic activity for local goods and service providers

As part of the project, CPV has proposed to install solar panels on six Walpole municipal buildings to save energy and reduce the town's energy costs.

Regional Environmental Benefits

Global warming is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century.
Combined-cycle natural gas plants have been identified as a critical part of the solution.
Princeton researchers identify the displacement of coal-fired generation with natural gas as a means of reducing CO2 emissions by one billion metric tons per year.(Robert H. Socolow, Steven W. Pacala, Princeton University, {updated report}; Oak Ridge National Laboratory).
Massachusetts currently obtains nearly one-third (28 percent) of its electricity from coal-fired generation, the largest contributor to global warming, mercury contamination (neurotoxins); and acid rain.
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC, one of the country’s foremost environmental organizations) identifies combined-cycle natural gas plants as one of the primary solutions—along with wind power and solar—to meeting the challenge of global warming. (NRDC Position Paper: Commercial and Nuclear Power, October 2005)