Massachusetts approved a 125 megawatt battery in Tewksbury, and the town that could not stop it gets 2,000,000 dollars a year

What is being built at 73 Hillman Street

A battery energy storage system charges from the grid or from a power plant, holds that electricity, and gives it back later when the grid needs it. That is how the town of Tewksbury, Massachusetts defines the one proposed at 73 Hillman Street. It is 169 enclosed battery units on 4.3 acres of already developed land, each weighing up to 93,700 pounds. A new substation on the same site raises the voltage to 115 kilovolts, and 1,200 feet of new line carries the power to the grid.

The system is rated at 125 megawatts, which is how fast it can push power out, not how much energy it holds. Each unit holds lithium ion batteries, a cooling system, control software, and an inverter that turns the stored power into the current the grid uses. The developer told the state that if the safety circuits read a condition outside normal limits, charging and discharging stop and the affected parts shut down automatically.

Why a battery is proposed where it is proposed

The site was picked for the substation beside it and for the acreage. Hillman Energy Center, LLC, the company that filed for the project, told the state it looked at 4 candidate sites, all inside Tewksbury, screening for land of at least 4 acres with at least 3.5 acres buildable, already industrial, and close to an existing substation. Anyone living beside an industrial parcel near a substation lives beside a candidate site. United States battery storage capacity grew by an average of 70% a year over the last 3 years, reaching nearly 52 gigawatts by the middle of 2026. Operators have told the Energy Information Administration they plan 54 gigawatts more by the end of 2028.

The law that moved the decision to the state

Before 2025, Tewksbury could apply its own zoning rules to a project like this one. Chapter 239 of the Acts of 2024, which Governor Maura Healy signed on November 20, 2024, changed that. Section 36 added electricity storage to the state definition of a public service corporation, the category of company that may ask for local zoning to be set aside. Section 37 moved the power to grant that request to the Energy Facilities Siting Board, an independent state board that reviews large energy projects. Both took effect on February 18, 2025. Hillman Energy Center filed on April 1, 2025, and the board approved the project on June 30, 2026, with over 100 conditions on public health and safety taken from the agreement the town negotiated.

What the town took instead of a fight

With the zoning decision at the state, town manager John Curran negotiated a host community agreement, a signed contract with the company.

Taking a purely adversarial position on this project will deny the town the opportunity to incorporate more safety conditions through this process,

John Curran, the Tewksbury town manager. Source 5.

The agreement pays Tewksbury not less than 2,000,000 dollars a year, plus a community preservation surcharge of 1% of those payments, over the 20 year life of the tax agreement. The Sun of Lowell puts that total at 40,000,000 dollars. The company also pays for annual emergency training for local responders and must give the Tewksbury Fire Department an emergency response plan, with the department comments in it, before the project runs.

What the neighbors were told

William Martel lives across the street from the site.

There is going to be a constant buzzing sound 24/7, enough to drive you crazy,

William Martel, a Tewksbury resident whose house is right across the street from the proposed site. Source 5.

The filing predicts sound at homes rising 3 to 10 decibels above the background level at night. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection allows up to 10 decibels over the background, so the loud end of that prediction is the limit itself.