National Grid shutdown of electricity at WIN Waste Innovations plant blamed for latest noise incident

By Mark E. Vogler

A recent noise issue at WIN Waste Innovation’s trash-to-energy plant on Route 107 sparked some discussion at this week’s Board of Health meeting – and some concern expressed by residents attending the meeting.

“On Oct. 30 at approximately 4:30 p.m., the facility was temporarily knocked off the grid due to an issue with National Grid, not our plant operations,” WIN Waste Facility Manager Elliott Casey told the board in his monthly plant update.

“As you may remember, this was similar to an event a few years ago; however, since that time we have established procedures that allowed our team to quickly mitigate the noise in under two minutes. The controlled steam release is a standard safety measure to prevent volatile conditions. There was no disruption to waste processing services,” Casey said.

Casey emphasized in his explanation that the plant’s shutdown was caused unexpectedly by National Grid – not WIN Waste – while the utility company was working on its equipment. “On Oct. 31, a second shutdown was needed to take the plant offline so that they can make sure repairs were complete and then they were able to re-energize the system as normal,” Casey said.

Board of Health Member Joseph Dorant asked Casey, “How long did the noise occur for?”

“Sixty to 90 seconds,” Casey answered.

A woman in the audience could be overheard saying 13 minutes.

“We had power back on within 15 minutes,” Casey said.

Dorant recalled the board’s ongoing concerns about noise emanating from the WIN Waste plant dating back to 2021. “It seems like whenever you lose electricity, we’re going to have a problem,” he said. Dorant also noted that the plant’s auxiliary power seemed to be limited whenever the electricity goes out.

Casey stressed that WIN Waste has been doing its best to eliminate the noise problems that created a public outcry in Lynn, Revere and Saugus several years ago.

“As mentioned during the last meeting we began our turbine outage with GE on Sept. 14,” Casey said.

“During this time, steam has been safely vented through the facility’s silencer, installed in 2021, which mitigates noise from the steam venting process. The steam may be visible but not audible, and our robust emissions control systems will be operational throughout the outage to ensure continued compliance with our federal and state air regulations,” he said.

Dorant said the community remains apprehensive about the plant because of the past history of events. “It’s not only the noise, it’s the fear in the community,” Dorant said.

“The community hears the noise and they don’t know what’s happening … what’s next. Just wanted to make you aware of that,” he said.

Board of Health Chair Maria Tamagna said it is understandable how National Grid having an issue while the plant’s turbine was offline could lead to some problems beyond the company’s control. But Tamagna also noted that she appreciates WIN Waste’s open communication, which she said “has improved by leaps and bounds” since WIN began coming to the meetings on a monthly basis to brief the board on its activities.

An overhaul of the steam turbine – which takes place every five to seven years, in addition to regular maintenance – began in mid-September and is scheduled to run through Nov. 16. With the turbine offline, the steam that is produced as part of the power-generation process is instead vented through the silencer and ultimately the roof. The steam will be visible but not audible as it leaves the silencer, according to WIN Waste.

WIN needs to take steps to brief the community on incidents like the recent National Grid shutdown as soon as possible, some Board of Health members suggested at Monday’s meeting.