Contracts
Massachusetts municipal utilities receive 53 megawatts from the Niagara Hydroelectric Project in New York, above, under a contract managed by MMWEC.
In addition to its jointly owned resources, MMWEC enters into bulk power purchase contracts and other arrangements to meet the power supply needs of its members as efficiently and economically as possible.
All-Requirements
MMWEC offers an All Requirements Power Supply Program
through
which program participants pool their electric loads and
resources
to achieve greater efficiency and economy in New
England's
wholesale power marketplace. The All-Requirements
participants
delegate certain decision-making authority to an MMWEC
program
administrator, who can act on behalf of participants to
complete
certain transactions.
NYPA Contracts
MMWEC administers contracts and other arrangements
covering the
purchase and delivery of inexpensive hydroelectric power
from
the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to Massachusetts
municipal
utilities. Under an agreement with the Massachusetts
Department
of Telecommunications & Energy (DTE), the official
Massachusetts
bargaining agent for NYPA power, MMWEC acts as the agent
for DTE
in overseeing the Massachusetts allocations of power and
energy
from one federally licensed, NYPA-operated hydroelectric
projects
in New York.
MASSPOWER Contract
MMWEC is receiving approximately 21 megawatts of power
and energy
from the MASSPOWER Project through a 20-year contract
that runs
through 2013. MASSPOWER is a 270-megawatt, gas-fired,
combined-cycle
plant located in Springfield, Mass., that began
operating in 1993.
Power and energy from this contract is resold to the six
contract
participants at MMWEC's cost.
The Hydro-Quebec Interconnection is an approximate 2,000-megawatt, direct-current electric transmission line connecting central New England with the Canadian utility Hydro-Quebec. Construction of the U.S. portion of the interconnection, which stretches from Groton/Ayer, Mass. to the Canadian border in northern Vermont, was a joint effort of many New England utilities, including most Massachusetts municipal utilities. Thirty-two Massachusetts municipal utilities own usage rights over approximately 4 percent of the interconnection, either through MMWEC or independently. MMWEC owns approximately 1 percent of the stock in several of the companies that operate the interconnection on behalf of numerous municipals. MMWEC also manages the ownership interests of all but two of the Massachusetts municipals involved with the project.