New ‘solar benefit’ will spur solar, jobs across Vt.

S. Burlington, Vermont, May 25, 2011

For more information contact:

Andrew Savage, Director of Communications and Public Affairs

asavage@allearthrenewables.com, 802.872.9600 

New ‘solar benefit’ will spur solar, jobs across Vt.

S. BURLINGTON, Vermont . . . May 25, 2011 . . . With the signing of the Vermont Energy Act of 2011 (H.56) today, a new statewide solar customer benefit will help deliver net metered solar energy and jobs throughout Vermont.

First initiated with Green Mountain Power’s (GMP) SolarGMP program, the 6 cents per kilowatt hour solar benefit helped provide the incentive to over 400 new solar installations.  The utility initiated the incentive as a way to reduce peak power and transmission costs and encourage the development of local solar energy. 

H.56 expands the solar customer incentive to all Vermont utilities by providing homeowners, businesses, non-profits and municipalities that develop their own net metered projects with an incentive of $0.20 minus the local retail electric rate as a benefit for the solar they produce.  In most utilities it will range between $.06 and $.01 per kWh produced. (For example, if a utility’s residential electric rate is $0.15/kWh, the solar customer benefit to the homeowner would be $0.05 for every solar-generated kWh.)

“This statewide solar benefit makes good economic sense.  Net metered solar reduces peak demand and transmission costs to Vermonters, while providing an incentive for local solar development and job growth,” said President and CEO of AllEarth Renewables David Blittersdorf, Williston manufacturer of the AllSun Tracker.

Solar energy in Vermont typically produces the most excess— spinning hundreds of net metered electric meters backwards— at the same time that local utilities experience peak price spikes in the summer.

“This is great for our economy and great for the industry,” added President of J.A. Morrissey, Inc., Jeanne A. Morrissey. “By expanding the solar incentive statewide, we expect to both sustain existing jobs and provide new jobs throughout our region of the state.”

The legislation also expands Vermont’s successful net metering program by increasing the allowable size of net metering projects from 250kW to 500kW, increasing the per utility net metering cap from 2 percent to 4 percent, initiating a simple registration process for small solar installations of 5kW and less starting in 2012, and improving the billing of group net metering.

With the changes in H.56, groups net metering will now be able to specify how to allocate the credits that accrue and will be billed directly rather than rely on a group administrator.

Read more about net metering by visiting here.

About AllEarth Renewables, Inc.  www.allearthrenewables.com AllEarth Renewables is a Vermont company that specializes in the design, manufacture and installation of complete grid-connected wind and solar renewable energy systems that lessen dependence on nuclear and fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The company’s goal is to provide turnkey products that harness the power of wind and sun for homes and businesses while creating sustainable, well-paying jobs.

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