Exelon to keep S. Boston plant going -- for now
A South Boston power plant seen as a potential site for a multimillion-dollar hotel or condominium development will continue to crank out electricity for the next several months while its owners figure out the plant's future.
After initially looking to shut down the facility by Nov. 15, the owners of the New Boston power plant have reversed course and now plan to keep operating it indefinitely.
"We have decided not to deactivate New Boston," said Mary Rucci , a spokeswoman for Exelon Generating Inc. "We're going to continue to review our options for the site, to continue to run it, or mothball it, or close it, or sell it. Those are some of the options we're looking at. Over the next several months, we'll be continuing to look at that."
Cleaning up and redeveloping the site could be costly and complex. But some real estate industry executives think the plant's waterfront site, at Summer and East First streets near the Reserved Channel, could command millions of dollars to build offices, condominiums, or a hotel serving the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center , a half-mile away. No plans to redevelop the site have been officially presented, however.
Jay Doherty , the chief executive of Cabot Cabot & Forbes , a Boston commercial real estate firm, and president of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties Massachusetts chapter , said the power plant site may interest some developers, but "it's probably got a fairly long timeline. To me, it would be a quite challenging site."
Besides the necessary environmental work and decommissioning of the electrical plant, the site is more squarely in South Boston than the Seaport District around the convention center, Doherty said. That would bring redevelopment issues more deeply into Southie's rough-and-tumble neighborhood politics.
At the same time, Doherty added, "I suspect there would be a fairly significant interest from the city and other leaders in seeing something productive done with the site" if Exelon were to shut down operations, Doherty said.
The 350-megawatt plant can produce enough power for over 250,000 average-sized homes. A second similarly sized unit at the site, badly damaged in a 2002 fire, remains idle.
In recent years, Exelon had tried to shut down New Boston. But the organization that runs the regional power grid, Independent System Operator New England of Holyoke, refused to let Exelon close it down, saying that would jeopardize the reliability of Boston electric supplies.
ISO New England made Exelon continue running the New Boston plant under a so-called "reliability -- must run" pact that guaranteed the Kennett Square , Pa., company a fixed profit for operating it.
But last month ISO told Exelon it was free to shut the plant down after Nov. 15 because NStar is activating its new $220 million high-voltage underground power line from Stoughton to Southie.
Now and for the foreseeable future, Rucci said, Exelon will continue competing in the wholesale New England electric market for business running the plant to produce electricity.
Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com. 
