The Net-Metering Program, the Standard Offer Program, and Tier II of Vermont’s Renewable Energy Standard all include facility size restrictions as part of the eligibility requirements.
To protect against a single large project being broken up into multiple, smaller projects that would then qualify for one or more of these programs, Vermont statute gives the PUC the authority to consider multiple, separate CPG applications as constituting a “single plant.”
In practice, this single plant determination can be used to:
- prevent the use of sites that already host solar, including priority areas identified by towns as ideal for renewable energy
- block a private landowner from building a solar array because their neighbor has already done so
- make it more difficult for residential developers to include solar when a group of new homes is built
- stop Vermonters with solar from expanding their systems as they electrify their homes
Here is an example of how a “Single Plant” determination can prevent the re-use of an old gravel pit for solar
With Vermont’s update RES requiring 20% of our power to come from in state sources, we need to make the most efficient use of sites already permitted, already disturbed or that are part of priority areas identified by towns as ideal for hosting renewable energy.
Representative Amy Sheldon (D-Middlebury) has introduced H.394 which includes language to change the “Single Plant” law to allow for more solar to be built in areas ideal for renewable energy. REV is working to have the “Single Plant” language from H.394 added to S.50 in HEDI.
For more information on “Single Plant” click here or read REV’s report No Good Reason: Vermont’s Regulatory Roadblocks to Renewable Energy and our Fight Against Climate Change