Eversource, along with representatives from BXP, community partners and state and local officials, have inaugurated construction of the Greater Cambridge Energy Program (GCEP), a transmission initiative to address the increased electric demand in the region, enhance the resiliency of the transmission system, and ensure a flexible grid to reliably serve customers while supporting electrification and decarbonization goals.
The project will also enable the interconnection of more new clean energy resources to support additional electric supply and increase the grid’s capacity as electrification is on rise and more customers are adopting clean technologies like EVs and heat pumps in the coming years.
GCEP, designed to place a significant amount of required infrastructure underground, includes Eversource's underground substation at 35,000 square feet. The substation will be located 105 feet underground beneath new public green space between Broadway and Binney Street and integrated into BXP's Life Sciences Center at the former Kendall Center Blue Garage site.
The output from GCEP’s underground substation will help electrification of heating systems in the city, providing capacity to address 100% of residential heating electrification as well as the ability to displace 50% of the commercial sector’s gas demand through electrification.
As part of GCEP, Eversource will also construct eight new 115 kV underground transmission lines covering 8.3 miles through portions of Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston. Moreover, additional work includes upgrades to five substations, or clean energy hubs, in Cambridge, Somerville, and Allston/Brighton, and the construction of 48 new distribution lines.
Eversource expects GCEP to be operational in 2029 with the energization of the substation and the first transmission line. The remaining transmission lines are predicted to be put into service through 2031. Approximately 500 full-time jobs will be supported throughout the duration of the project.
