HOLY MCNAMARA

Somerset Board of Selectmen

Holly was born and raised in Somerset, MA and has personally felt the impact of the Brayton Point Power Station’s evolution over the decades. Once the largest coal-burning power plant in New England, Brayton Point went out of business in 2017 when gas prices plummeted. The town’s state representative Pat Haddad wrote a bill to bring offshore wind to Massachusetts and revitalize Somerset. Now Somerset is poised to be home to North America’s first offshore wind manufacturing plant, and Holly could not be more excited.

“We are at the forefront of this renewable energy movement.”

Holly believes offshore wind has the financial potential to replace what the Brayton Point Power Plant and the neighboring Mauntap Power Plant combined had once brought to her community in terms of jobs and tax revenue. Beyond the economic benefit, she believes it will create a whole new identity for her town.

For it to succeed, she emphasizes the importance of policy. She believes in laying down the groundwork so that this process can be replicated not only in her region but throughout the nation and the world.