Cape Ann is already experiencing climate change. These 27 vignettes show how Cape Ann’s critical infrastructure, beloved cultural landscapes and historic downtowns are changing before the storm arrives.

Riverdale Electrical Substation

Gloucester, MA

critical infrastructure, buffer, hazard, public safety, inundation

National Grid provides electricity for Cape Ann through a primary high voltage transmission cable that runs along the commuter rail tracks from Beverly into Cape Ann. This cable powers fifty thousand customers in Gloucester, Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Rockport, Hamilton and Wenham. The Cape Ann electrical system includes seven substations across Cape Ann that transform high-voltage to low-voltage (consumer) electricity that is distributed to homes and businesses. The existing transmission cable is currently damaged and is being replaced as part of National Grid’s Beverly Regional Transmission Reliability Project, which will be completed in 2030.¹

National Grid Crews. Photograph by Jerry Ackerman, 2020. www.gloucestertimes.com/thousands-still-in-the-dark/image_d8e2d050-3843-11ec-bfc7-9f79e0dff592.html

The Riverdale substation transforms power for Addison Gilbert Hospital and Lanesville. The substation is located adjacent to Mill Pond and is separated from the water body by marshland as well as a cluster of trees. The substation is threatened by sea level rise.²

Recent storms in Gloucester, including the October 2021 storm, have resulted in widespread, days-long power outages due to trees felled by high winds. The routine maintenance and pruning of residential and street trees to prevent power outages can overwhelm municipal governments.³ Additionally, the historic tree species that characterize the streetscape of communities on Cape Ann are often larger deciduous and conifer species (many with shallow root systems) that utility companies do not recommend.⁴ As climate change continues to stress trees with extreme storms, droughts, disease, and insects, trees are ever more likely to fall onto power lines.

Riverdale Electrical Substation. View from Google Maps, 2021. www.maps.google.com

If any of the trees around Riverdale hit the substation during the Great Storm, it will immediately affect consumers in East Gloucester and, potentially, Addison Gilbert Hospital. The low-lying areas of Route 127 that access the substation will likely be inundated by floodwaters, creating hazards for emergency crews trying to safely repair live power lines after clearing away the brush. While Addison Gilbert Hospital can rely on fuel-powered emergency generators in the short term, power may remain out in East Gloucester for weeks.

Paul Leighton, “National Grid: Cable Project ‘Pivotal’ for Cape Ann Customers,” Gloucester Daily Times, November 30, 2021. ↩
“Massachusetts System Data Portal - Sea Level Rise,” National Grid Massachusetts, December 3, 2021. www.ngrid.apps.nationalgrid.com/NGSysDataPortal/MA/index.html ↩
Taylor Ann Bradford, “Thousands still in the dark,” Gloucester Daily Times, October 29, 2021. ↩
“How to avoid tree and utility line conflicts when selecting and planting trees,” National Grid, accessed December 4, 2021, www9.nationalgridus.com/non_html/shared_safety_tree.pdf ↩