Review of the Vermont Energy Plan: VTEP Review

VTEP study surveys Vermont’s progress towards 90% renewables goal

The Vermont Energy Partnership today published its latest study, “The Three-Legged Race: Vermont’s Pursuit of 90% Renewables by 2050,” an overview of progress towards reaching the Vermont Department of Public Service goal of using 90% renewable energy by 2050.

Findings explained in detail here, include:

• In order to reach its interim home energy efficiency goal for 2020, the state must weatherize 80,000 homes over the next seven years. At its current pace, Vermont will likely only meet half that goal.

• Transportation accounts for 36% of Vermont's total energy consumption, and 59% of carbon emissions. Today, one in 1,756 of Vermont registered cars are electric plug-ins.

• Reaching 90% renewable total energy by 2050 will require Vermont to triple its electricity consumption. Yet Vermont now makes less electricity than any other New England state, about half of which is produced by Vermont Yankee.

• To move Vermont just 5% closer to 90%, Vermont would need either 262 new 2.2 MW solar plants, five new Lowell Mountain wind projects, or 300 small existing hydro dams.

• The chasm between Vermont’s renewables present and renewables future – about 3 million renewable megawatt-hours on this side of the 37-year span, 18 million on the other – may simply be a bridge too far, barring unexpected changes.

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Guy Page with
Governor Urban Woodbury
his great-grandfather

The Vermont Energy Partnership (www.vtep.org) is a diverse group of more than 90 business, labor, and community leaders committed to finding clean, affordable and reliable electricity solutions.  Its mission is to educate policy makers, the media, businesses, and the general public about why electricity is imperative for prosperity, and about the optimal solutions to preserve and expand our electricity network.  Entergy, owner of Vermont Yankee, is a member of the Vermont Energy Partnership.

Note: Guy Page, the lead author on this report, is a frequent guest blogger at Yes Vermont Yankee.  His most recent post was Nuclear is Green Energy

Specific Power Sources in Vermont: VTEP Report

Vermont Energy Partnership releases overview of Vermont electricity, lists specific power sources

MONTPELIER - A publication released today by the Vermont Energy Partnership (VTEP), “Vermont Electricity at a Glance," examines Vermont's electricity portfolio. The publication includes the rates charged by each Vermont utility, the type of generation and amount of power supplied in megawatt-hours, the amount of renewable power, and (in most cases) the specific power generators and/or contracts.

“Vermont Electricity at a Glance” also portrays Vermont’s statewide increase in power rates in comparison with neighboring states. In 2012, Vermont’s electricity rates rose five percent while rates stayed level or fell in New York or all other New England states (except Rhode Island, also five percent).  To view the publication, please click here.



The Vermont Energy Partnership (http://www.vtep.org) is a diverse group of more than 90 business, labor, and community leaders committed to finding clean, safe, affordable and reliable electricity solutions for Vermont.

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Guy Page

The note above is a press release from the Vermont Energy Partnership: it was sent by Guy Page, who has frequent guest posts on this site, such as Transitioning to Renewable Power: What It Might Look Like.

This new VTEP overview report contains the facts and figures on Vermont's electricity supply right now.

Some highlights:

• Vermont's electricity retail electricity price rose from 14 cents to 15 cents per kWh, while most other states retail prices fell (Rhode Island's price also rose). 
• Vermont used 1.8 million MWh of "system power" (bought from the New England grid) in 2012, while they used only 0.8 million MWh of "system power" in  2011. In 2011, Vermont Yankee contracts were in place.
• Since Vermont classifies large hydro as renewable, Vermont electricity supply is slightly more than 50% renewable.  This includes the power from Hydro Quebec.
• Green Mountain Power bought approximately 0.3 million MWh from a combination of  Millstone and NextEra (Seabrook) nuclear plants .  These purchases were  separate from GMP's purchases of "system power"  from the grid, which also included these plants. 

This VTEP report is well worth studying!

For example, I note that if you add the nuclear plant purchases to the new "system power" purchases, you get 1.3 million MWh.  Vermont used to purchase approximately 2.0 million MWh from Vermont Yankee.  I urge you to read the report and draw your own conclusions about renewables, Vermont Yankee, and the new expanded role of "system power" in Vermont.

Green Jobs and Taxes: A Guest Post by Guy Page of VTEP

Though the plant helps make Vermont first in the nation in “green jobs,” the state government is still trying to punish Vermont Yankee.

A guest post by Guy Page of Vermont Energy Partnership: VTEP.

By Guy Page

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released a study showing that nearly 3.1 million Americans now hold “green” jobs, a nearly one percent increase since 2010. But the state of Vermont could set a dangerous precedent that would affect these jobs across the country.

The BLS report found that nuclear power generation topped the list of energy industries in terms of “green goods and services (GGS)” employment, with 35,800 jobs. A well-run nuclear plant is an environmentally low-impact power producer; instead of emitting spent fuel into the atmosphere, as occurs in the production of fossil-fuel power, nuclear plants' emissions are safely stored, and the public is protected from contamination.

The BLS report ranks the Green Mountain State first among U.S. states for “green jobs” per capita, with just under 13,000. Vermont’s top ranking is in part due to the approximately 600 jobs at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Located in Vernon, it is the state’s largest producer of clean, green energy. Also, about 500 contractors or other workers derive most or all of their income from the plant.

The Legislature and Vermont Yankee

Unfortunately, the state legislature and the administration of Gov. Peter Shumlin are doing everything in their power to prevent Vermont from continuing this positive trend in green jobs. The State has spent most of the last year trying to shut down Vermont Yankee. Having lost in federal court, the state is moving forward with an expensive, and probably fruitless, appeal. The administration and well-entrenched "environmental" groups - many of whom also seem to prefer gas and coal power over green nuclear - are now pushing hard for the plant’s closure before the Vermont Public Service Board.

Meanwhile, the Vermont Legislature is moving forward with a measure that would increase the plant's generation tax from $5 million to about $11 million. That's how much Vermont Yankee would be required to pay the State of Vermont just to continue operating and creating green jobs in state. Generation taxes are nothing new – almost every power generating industry has them, but a 120% increase is steep, to say the least.

Business and Government

When any industry is targeted for punishment by state government, other industries notice. Across the country, and indeed across the globe, boards of directors are deciding where they want to do business. By making a public spectacle of itself as ferociously anti-business, the State of Vermont is doing itself no favors.

If legislators succeed in their attempt to shut down this generator of clean power and green jobs, it could have a cascading effect throughout the country. It would send a message to legislators in other states that they can put their political and personal agendas ahead of what’s best for the people who live and pay taxes there.

The number of green jobs would undoubtedly decline and the U.S. would have less to boast about regarding increases in what is considered the workforce of the future.

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(To view the BLS study, go to http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ggqcew.pdf. The information about nuclear power's inclusion as "green" is on page 11 of the study.)

This post is by Guy Page, of Cambridge Vermont. He is communications director of the Vermont Energy Partnership (www.vtep.org), a 90-member not-for-profit organization based in Montpelier and advocating for a clean, safe, reliable, affordable Vermont energy future. Entergy, owner of Vermont Yankee, is a VTEP member.

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Guest Blog: Renewables and Vermont

My friend Guy Page of Vermont Energy Partnership wrote this op-ed piece, which I am happy to post as a guest blog. Here in Vermont, we face the constant question: if Vermont Yankee closes down, will windmills, solar installations, cow power spring up to take on the electrical load?

As you may have noticed from my earlier posts about the Coalition for Energy Solutions report Vermont Electric Power in Transition, the answer is No.

Guy Page wrote a report detailing sources of renewable energy in Vermont, and sources planned for the future. His report is fact-based and hopeful. Still, if you ask the question: "Can Renewables Power Vermont?"---the answer is still No.

Renewables Alone Cannot Power Vermont

By: Guy Page

Here in Vermont and across the nation renewable energy sources are a hot topic of discussion. And as Vermont works to hammer out our energy future, renewable energy sources will certainly play a growing, important part.

Today, however, the sources categorized as renewable by the 2009 American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), including wind, solar, biomass, methane, certain hydro, and geothermal, among others, meet a small fraction of the nation’s energy needs. So what role do renewable energy sources currently play in Vermont, and what is their potential in the next five to ten years?

The Vermont Energy Partnership analyzed these and related questions in a recent report which inventories current and pending renewable power sources, both in-state and in the immediate region, as well as the potential for energy efficiency and conservation.

To ensure that the lights, TV’s, computers and refrigerators stay on at our homes and businesses Vermont requires output of 700 megawatts (MW) at average demand, 1000 MW at peak demand (one megawatt is enough to electricity for approximately 800-1,000 average homes). The report finds that at present, in-state renewable sources generate about 84 MW. Seventy MW comes from two woodchip burning plants, Burlington’s McNeil and a facility in Ryegate. Conservation and in-state hydro power make notable contributions now, but have modest growth potential in the near future.

While many factors could change the amount of renewable power the state has in the future, the report also finds that using reasonable and practical assumptions, new renewable power generation may increase by 95 MW in the near future, provided the state’s new Feed In Tariff program performs superbly and four major, as-yet-unbuilt wind farms come online and generate electricity as expected.

In Vermont terms, 95 MW is a lot of new electricity. Once online, it would represent almost a tenth of our peak load. Yet it is clear that in the foreseeable future in-state renewables and efficiency cannot begin to replace either Hydro-Québec (which the state recently designated a renewable energy source) or Vermont Yankee, the state’s two largest electricity providers which each provide about a third of Vermont’s electricity, absent an unexpected and unprecedented change at all levels of policy making.

The Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) program sets a cost-based price for renewable power projects of 2.2 MW capacity or less. Once a FIT project is built and approved, Vermont utilities are obligated to buy the power at the approved, above-market rate. Vermont law caps, for now, the combined capacity of all FIT generation at 50 MW. Because capacity always exceeds output, particularly for renewable projects, 25 MW of FIT output is a prudent and perhaps optimistic estimate.

Although biomass generation produces most of the current in-state renewable power, costs less than solar or wind, and supports the state’s logging industry, its growth appears uncertain. The Ryegate contract may not be renewed by utilities after 2012. Several new proposals are in preliminary stages, while other, more mature proposals have hit significant snags.

The Vermont Energy Partnership recognizes that any inventory of Vermont’s electricity generation is a snapshot and a work in progress. The energy industry is dynamic, and with the push to support renewable energy sources at the federal, state and local levels, it is possible that additional capacity will flourish.

But given our established needs and the likelihood of significant additional demand for electricity after the recession, we cannot afford to put all of our eggs in one basket, especially a basket that has yet to prove its ability to meet our needs. Vermont cannot depend on renewables and energy efficiency alone to meet our current, or future, energy needs.

Maintaining our hydro and nuclear power sources provides two important factors in allowing Vermont’s renewable energy capacity to grow: time and money. Time will come from securing long-term power agreements with these power producers, and money will come in part from the Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund, which benefits greatly from the operation of Vermont Yankee.

The renewable energy industry is dynamic, exciting and will certainly play a role in meeting Vermont’s energy needs. But like any project, we must factor into our energy discussions the limits, costs and long-term potential.

Guy Page is VTEP communications director and author of the above-mentioned report. VTEP (www.vtep.org) is a diverse group of more than 90 business, labor and community organizations and leaders committed to finding clean, affordable and reliable electricity solutions to ensure Vermont remains a great place to live and work. The membership includes Vermont Yankee owner Entergy.