GreenMountainCollegehas entered into a unique net-metering agreement with a Benson landowner who has completed installation of a 150 kW solar electric project on his Stage Road property. The project, which began to generate power Wednesday, is brokered byTunbridge Solar LLC.What makes this project different is that property owner, Aaron Kelly, has offered to give up the sale of renewable energy certificates (RECs) and donate them to thecollege.GMC will save 5% on the value of the solar energy produced. The project will offset approximately 8% of thecollege’s electricity consumption on campus.
“This allows theCollegetoreduce itsgreenhouse gas emissions while saving approximately $1300 per year in electricity costs,” said Aaron Witham, GMC’s sustainability director.
“Vermont allows its wind and solar power producers to sell their RECs to out of state polluters and at the same time apply them toward meeting the state’s own renewable energy goals,” explainsKelly, a student at Vermont Law School. “Many of these RECs are sold to out-of-state utilities which still generate most of their power through fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas. I made a conscious decision not to sell the credits.”
Kelly also insisted on using solar panels produced by a domestic supplier—the 576 panels were manufactured in Oregon.
The project is a major step inGreenMountainCollege’sgoal of using 100% renewable energy by 2020.