The Block Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, just like the island itself, used to be powered by generators, but those generators were turned off after the wind farm started to generate electricity.
However, plant Supt. Dylan Chase turned the generators back on during the high-use summer months this year, resulting in a savings of about $38,000. The saved money will eventually be used to upgrade a generator at the plant that’s due for an overhaul. Chase said that the overhaul will cost about $80,000. His plan to use the generators again next year should get the plant to the point where they can cover the cost of the overhaul, he said.
The generators were last used in 2017 when the wind farm went online.
The members of the Sewer Commission discussed the idea at its meeting on Monday, Nov. 16.
Commission Chair Pete McNerney said he wanted to see the money saved put into the department’s budget so the saved funds could be tracked.
“I understand if it moves up and down but we wanted to earmark it specifically for rebuilding the generators,” said McNerney. “If we’re going to run them in the summertime, we’ll need that sooner than
