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Solar panels at Middlebury College
U.S. solar potential

Solar power in Vermont provides almost 11% of the state's in-state electricity production as of 2018. [1] A 2009 study indicated that distributed solar on rooftops can provide 18% of all electricity used in Vermont. [2] A 2012 estimate suggests that a typical 5 kW system costing $25,000 before credits and utility savings will pay for itself in 10 years, and generate a profit of $34,956 over the rest of its 25-year life. [3]

Net metering is available for up to at least 500 kW generation, but is capped at 15% of utilities peak demand. Excess generation is rolled over each month but is lost once each year. Group net metering is also allowed. [4] Vermont is given an A for net metering and a C for interconnection. [5] A feed-in tariff was created in 2009, but is limited to 50 MW and is fully subscribed. The cap increases by 5 to 10 MW/year starting in 2013 until it reaches 127.5 MW in 2022. It is available for solar, wind, methane, and biomass. [6] [7] Seven solar projects are receiving payments, of $0.30/kWh, for 25 years. [8]

Installed capacity

Source: NREL [9]
Grid-Connected PV Capacity (MW) [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]
Year Capacity Change % Change
2007 0.7 0.2 40%
2008 1.1 0.4 57%
2009 1.7 0.6 55%
2010 3.9 2.2 129%
2011 11.7 7.8 200%
2012 28.0 16.3 139%
2013 41.5 13.6 49%
2014 64 22.5 54%
2015 107 43 67%
2016 185 78 73%
2017 220 35 19%
2018 302 82 37%
2019 355 53 18%
2020 379 24 7%
2021 397.6 18.6 %
2022 417 19.4 %

Solar farms

See also: List of power stations in Vermont § Solar

In 2012, Vermont had five solar arrays of at least 1 MW, the 2.2 MW SunGen Sharon 1 in Sharon. [20] the 2.1 MW concentrating photovoltaics array installed in July 2011 in South Burlington, [21] [22] the 1.5 MW photovoltaic array also in South Burlington installed in October 2011, [23] the 1 MW photovoltaic array in Ferrisburgh, [24] and the 2 MW Williamstown Solar Project. [25]

As of 2019, Green Mountain Power (GMP) has further constructed several solar arrays as large as 5 MW. [26] In 2015, the 20 MW Coolidge solar farm near Ludlow was opposed by GMP, which claimed that there was no need for such utility-scale solar in the state. [27] The farm was completed by NextEra Energy at the end of 2018. [28]

Generation

Using data available from the U.S. Energy Information Agency's Electric Power Annual 2017 [29] and "Electric Power Monthly Data Browser", [30] [31] [32] [33] the following table summarizes Vermonts’s solar energy posture.

2017 VT Solar Energy Generation Profile
Solar-electric generation in Vermont
Year Facilities Summer capacity (MW) Electric energy (GWh or M kWh) Capacity factor Yearly growth of generating capacity Yearly growth of produced energy % of VT renewable electric energy % of VT generated electric energy % of U.S. Solar electric energy
2018 34 98.7 143 0.165 33% 44.4% 6.09% 6.07% 0.27%
2017 31 74.2 99 0.152 13% 67.8% 4.64% 4.62% 0.19%
2016 65.7 59 0.103 118% 23% 3.10% 3.08% 0.16%
2015 32.4 48 0.169 7% 100% 2.4% 2.42% 0.19%
2014 30.2 24 .091 41% 2.10% 0.34% 0.13%

Capacity factor for each year was computed from the end-of-year summer capacity. 2017 data is from Electric Power Monthly and is subject to change.

A small-scale 15KW installation at a homestead in middle Vermont generated 19,480 kWh of electrical energy at a Capacity Factor of 0.15. The homestead was sending energy to the utility when it was produced and taking energy from the utility when needed. Overall, the homestead consumed 80% of its generation and sold the remaining 20% to the utility. The generation profile is shown in the chart.

2017 15KW Vermont Farm Solar Energy Generation Profile

Beginning with the 2014 data year, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has estimated the distributed solar-photovoltaic generation and distributed solar-photovoltaic capacity. [34] These non-utility-scale appraisals evaluate that Vermont generated the following amounts of additional solar energy:

Estimated distributed solar electric generation in Vermont [35] [36]
Year Summer capacity (MW) Electric energy (GWh or M kWh)
2018 102.3 130
2017 90.3 111
2016 59.8 76
2015 49.9 48
2014 27.9 33

See also

References

  1. ^ "Solar Spotlight - Vermont" (PDF). www.seia.org. June 2019. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  2. ^ Witkin, Jim (October 30, 2009). "Report Argues for a Decentralized System of Renewable Power Generation". Green Blog.
  3. ^ "Guide to Vermont Home Solar Incentives, Rebates, and Tax Credits". Solar Power Rocks.
  4. ^ Vermont Net Metering Archived 2012-05-10 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Freeing the grid Archived 2012-06-16 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Standard Offer Program Archived 2012-07-27 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Standard Offer for Qualifying SPEED Resources Archived 2012-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Monthly Production Archived 2012-07-27 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ "PV Watts". NREL. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
  10. ^ Sherwood, Larry (August 2012). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2011" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 6, 2012. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  11. ^ Sherwood, Larry (June 2011). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2010" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved June 29, 2011.
  12. ^ Sherwood, Larry (July 2010). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2009" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 25, 2010. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
  13. ^ Sherwood, Larry (July 2009). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2008" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 23, 2009. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
  14. ^ Sherwood, Larry (August 2008). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2007" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved July 24, 2010.[ permanent dead link]
  15. ^ US Solar Market Insight Report Archived 2012-04-18 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Sherwood, Larry (July 2009). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2008" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 23, 2009. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
  17. ^ Sherwood, Larry (July 2012). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2012" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 16. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
  18. ^ Sherwood, Larry (July 2014). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2013" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  19. ^ Vermont Solar
  20. ^ "Talmage Solar Engineering, Inc. Unveils Largest Smart Array in North America". Business Wire. July 31, 2012.
  21. ^ Griset, Todd (July 28, 2011). "Vermont's largest solar array compared to California's". Energy Policy Update.
  22. ^ "Site #316 Production Report | AllEarth Renewables Energy Production Report". www.allearthrenewables.com.
  23. ^ Military Invests in Solar at Vermont National Guard Base Archived 2012-07-26 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ Ferrisburgh Solar Farm
  25. ^ "Williamstown solar array to be among state's biggest". Rutland Herald. July 31, 2012. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013.
  26. ^ Bill Opalka (January 28, 2019). "Vermont solar storage projects aim to lower costs during peak demand". Vermont Journal.
  27. ^ Polhamus, Mike (December 6, 2015). "20-megawatt solar project needed, developers' report says". VTDigger.
  28. ^ Sharon Huntley (October 17, 2018). "Coolidge Solar Project on schedule and expected to go live in December". Vermont Journal.
  29. ^ "Electric Power Annual State Data" [1] 1990-2017 Existing Name Plate and Summer Capacity by Energy Source and State retrieved 2019-3-17
  30. ^ "Electric Power Monthly Data Browser" [2] Table 1.17B retrieved 2019-3-15
  31. ^ "Electric Power Monthly Data Browser " [3] Report 1.14 retrieved 2017-6-17
  32. ^ "Electric Power Monthly Data Browser " [4] Report 1.13 retrieved 2019-3-17
  33. ^ "Electric Power Monthly Data Browser " [5] Report 1.6 retrieved 2019-3-17
  34. ^ "Electric Power Annual" retrieved 2017 6 17
  35. ^ "Electric Power Monthly" [6] |title=Electric Power Monthly (February 2018 with data for December 2017) - Table 1.17.B. Net Generation from Solar Photovoltaic retrieved 2018 5 29
  36. ^ "Electric Power Monthly" [7] |title=Electric Power Monthly (February 2018 with data for December 2017) - Table 6.2.B. Net Capacity from Solar Photovoltaic retrieved 2018 7 27

External links

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