Nantucket Official Guide | Page 149

From Whale Oil to Wires and Beyond

©Nantucket Historical Association

By Lauren Sinatra, Energy Coordinator, Town of Nantucket

For nearly a century, the whaling
industry established Nantucket as a global
energy leader, not only due to the island’s
offshore location, but from the resourceful,
cooperative, and progressive community
which supported the industry and shared
in the boomtown profits. Now, nearly 175
years later, a sustainable energy future on
Nantucket may only be possible with a
similar spirit of leadership and community
cooperation.
Owing to its location nearly 30 miles
out to sea, isolation has long shaped the
history of energy use on Nantucket. In 1659,
the first settlers arrived and discovered
that whale oil, which fueled early lamps
and candles, could be exported for profit,
establishing the island as a global energy
supplier. Indeed, Nantucket long reigned as
the Whaling Capital of the World, and the
industry prospered until 1840.

For decades, the island produced its
own electrical power through the use of six
massive diesel generators at a downtown
power plant, which serviced the local
population and the island’s nearly 400,000
annual visitors. However, by the early 1990s,
the island’s demand rapidly surpassed the
aging facility’s production ability, resulting in
20-30 blackouts per year.
In 1996, Nantucket’s local electric
company was sold to National Grid, which
laid a single transmission cable across
Nantucket Sound to connect Nantucket to
the Cape Cod power grid. Yet, demand
for electricity ke