GMP launches new effort to promote solar power
MONTPELIER, Vt.—Customers of
The new solar incentive goes beyond the more traditional "net metering" programs in which customers who make their own power and don't use it all can ship the excess back onto the grid, reducing their electric bill. If the program is approved by the state Public Service Board, the company will pay solar generators 6 cents per kilowatt-hour of power they generate besides the net metering benefit.
"This proposal will make solar energy more attractive to homeowners and businesses in Vermont," said Mary Powell, chief operating officer with GMP. "We are doing everything we can to encourage the adoption of solar energy. It is good for Vermont economically and environmentally."
GMP spokeswoman Dorothy Schnure said the utility effectively would be paying a total of 19 cents per kilowatt-hour for solar-generated power. Net metering customers now get 13 cents for each kwh they send onto the grid deducted from their bills, which can be reduced to zero. If they generate more power than they use, the amount the utility "owes" them can be credited from month to month, but any credit left over at the end of the year goes away, Schnure said.
Under the new program, net metering remains in place, but customers will be paid 6 cents in addition for each kwh they ship onto the grid, Schnure said -- so they will have 13 cents deducted from their electric bill and earn 6 more cents as well, she said.
Schnure called the 19 cents per kwh effective cost to her company "economically justifiable" because solar power is most available when the sun is beating down on summer days, creating peak demand for the power company and forcing it to buy electricity on a spot market where prices spike during times of high demand.
Powell said that in summer, "sunlight and solar electric production tend to be greatest at the time people are calling for the most electricity through air conditioning and other needs." The idea is to have one offset the other to the extent possible.
The GMP initiative was announced Thursday at a conference at Stratton Mountain on "distributed generation" -- a trend in the energy field toward moving away from large, centralized power plants toward making smaller amounts of power at many locations throughout the grid. It got a warm welcome from energy advocates.
"This new service could revolutionize the solar market in Vermont," said Andrew Perchlik, executive director of the advocacy group Renewable Energy Vermont.
Steve Wark, spokesman for the state Department of Public Service, which represents consumers in regulatory matters, called the program "actually pretty cool, because it tries to encourage a voluntary build-out of renewable power."
But even if thousands of Vermont homes suddenly sprouted new solar panels, it would not end the need for large, centralized sources like Hydro-Quebec and the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, Wark said.
"Frankly, this is not a replacement for base-load power," Wark said. "It's coincidental power, designed for when demand is highest."
