Electric Power Generation in Burlington

Electricity first came to Burlington in 1885 and was supplied by a private generating facility on the Winooski River. In 1905 the Burlington Electric Department built the first municipal electric plant. By the 1950s, more power was needed to serve the growing city. The J. Edward Moran Municipal Generating Station, a 30-megawatt coal-fired power plant, opened in 1955. The plant was converted in 1977 to one of the nation’s first biomass facilities, burning wood chips instead of coal. It was decommissioned in 1986 and replaced by the Joseph C. McNeil Generating Station in the Intervale. The vacant Moran plant was deconstructed in 2021, leaving only the steel frame of its utilitarian form intact as a community resource.