Image courtesy of Gensler

Vicinity Energy touted the launch of its carbon-free “eSteam” service to Boston commercial developers including the $1 billion Fenway Center lab project, as it begins converting its Cambridge cogeneration plant from gas to electric power.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu crossed the Charles River today to visit Vicinity’s cogeneration plant in Kendall Square, where gas turbines are being demolished and will be replaced by an electric boiler, and called for more aggressive decarbonization regulations.

“It’s a moment we’re already feeling here in the Greater Boston area as we’re already experiencing storms, flooding and heat that feels different and more intense month by month, year after year,” Wu said. “It’s here now. But that means the opportunities are here as well.”

Wu is seeking permission for Boston to join the state’s limited ban on fossil fuel hookups for new construction and major renovations. Vicinity has been pitching itself and its network of steam pipes in downtown Boston and Kendall Square as a straightforward solution for commercial landlords and developers trying to meet carbon-reduction goals set by the city’s BERDO 2.0 rules and the Wu administration’s efforts to force large new buildings to emit net-zero carbon the day they open, with or without the state’s fossil fuel ban pilot program. The company hired former Boston city councilor and Wu ally Matt O’Malley as its chief sustainability officer in late 2020.

The Athenaeum Street cogeneration plant currently supplies thermal energy and electricity for Vicinity’s customers in Boston and Cambridge, comprising 70 million square feet of building space, along with other plants in Boston’s Leather District and the Back Bay.

The plant’s changeover from gas to electric is part of the company’s pledge to attain net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The electric boiler is scheduled to go online in 2024, and Fenway Center is the company’s first “eSteam” contract.

Fenway Center is being developed by IQHQ and Meredith Management Corp. and will include a pair of office-lab buildings totaling 960,000 square feet.

Vicinity is installing new pipelines along Ipswich and Lansdowne Streets to Brookline Avenue in the Fenway as it seeks to add more commercial landlords to its customer base. Vicinity also is extending its pipelines in South Boston to serve new developments, including the 15 Necco St. lab tower which will be occupied by Eli Lilly Co.

In a statement, IQHQ Director of Sustainability and ESG Jenny Whitson said the contract enables developers “to achieve our climate goals and carbon emission reduction targets for our projects.”