Green Mountain Power (GMP) and Renewable Energy Vermont (REV) teamed up again to offer more innovative home battery options to GMP customers. Beginning June 5, customers can enroll in an expanded Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program for energy storage. BYOD has already been shown to deliver cost savings to GMP customers while providing convenient and seamless back up power during outages. The program also cuts carbon while increasing grid resiliency.
“Thanks to the new GMP incentives, reliable and safe electric battery storage is even more affordable for Vermonters. Seamless, automatic and gas-free battery storage charged by local renewables is the best way to weather storms and keep the lights on in your home or business,” said Olivia Campbell Anderson, Executive Director of Renewable Energy Vermont. “Vermonters can work with any of the more than 3 dozen local installers and choose which battery works best for them.”
The BYOD program offers up to $10,500 in upfront incentives to customers purchasing their own batteries through local installers. The program also incentivizes grid modernization in areas where it is needed most. Customers in grid-constrained areas who add batteries to existing solar systems receive an additional $100 per kilowatt hour in incentive payments.
Eligible devices currently include the Powerwall 2.0, Sonnenbatterie, Pika, Solar Edge and Sunverge with additional battery types to be added in the weeks and months to come.
REV members offering participating battery storage services include: Building Energy Services, Catamount Solar, DC Energy Innovations, Grassroots Solar, Green Earth Energy, Green Mountain Electrical Supply, Green Mountain Solar, Harvestar Power, Integrated Solar Applications, Integrity Energy, Norwich Solar Technologies, Nunez Electric, O’Meara Solar, Peck Electric, Positive Energy, Power Guru, PV Squared, Radiant Works, RAK Solar Services, ReVision Energy, Robert Stubbins Electrical, Same Sun of Vermont, Saxtons River Solar Electric, Smith & McClain, Solaflect Energy, Solar Dave, Solar Pro, Solartech, Southern Vermont Solar, Sun Catcher, SunCommon, Sunrun, and USA Solar Store.
At least 500 customers can enroll each year with up to five MW of stored energy annually. Customers enrolled in this program help to lower costs for all GMP customers by providing access to stored energy during peak demand times.
Originally launched in 2019, the BYOD program has been very popular with customers. It allows customers who purchase home batteries to choose immediate payment up front when they enroll in the program, or ongoing bill credits in exchange for sharing access to their stored energy with GMP. Customers will receive significant, immediate savings when they choose the new upfront payment over the program’s existing bill credit option.
The company calls on customers’ stored energy to reduce demand on the grid during peak usage times, saving money for all customers. By reducing peak demand, customer batteries save money for the whole system and GMP is able to pass those savings on to all of its customers.
“Team Vermont is again leading the way in home energy storage, and we’re so glad to be able to help grow this green economy by working together with our customers and partners in energy innovation in Vermont,” said Mari McClure, GMP’s president and CEO. “This work to drive down costs for all customers and increase resiliency and safety is always important but is highlighted even more now during this extraordinary time. We are pleased to offer affordable energy storage solutions for more residential customers in a way that saves money for all GMP customers,” she said.
This expanded BYOD program is part of a partnership between REV and GMP to increase the availability of products and services that will help individuals, families and communities save money on their electric bills, fight climate change and become more resilient in the face of extreme weather events.
“This is great news, and it is exactly what we should be doing to make a more resilient Vermont. We are happy to work with GMP, and have many customers who have been waiting for this approval to come through so they can install batteries through these programs. The incentives are excellent, and lower the costs for customers,” said Bhima Nitta, of Power Guru, a solar and storage company based in North Bennington, Vermont.
Starting on June 5, customers can start the enrollment process through GMP’s web site www.greenmountainpower.com.
Space in the pilot program is limited. When total enrollment reaches 5 megawatts of storage or about 500 customers, it will be full and no longer able to accept new customers.
GMP’s solar map has the areas of the state where battery storage is needed most (shown in orange and red): http://gmp.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4eaec2b58c4c4820b24c408a95ee8956 ).
Find a renewable electricity, heating, or transportation installer at https://www.revermont.org/our-members/directory/.