http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_25454420/more-solar-forecast
More solar projects in the forecast
By HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN / Reformer Staff
POSTED: 03/31/2014 03:00:00 AM EDT0 COMMENTS
BRATTLEBORO -- A Windham County company is planning to open at least four new community solar farms in the coming few years.
Soveren Solar, a Westminster company, is going to start construction in the spring on a 150 kilowatt solar farm in North Springfield, and company founder Peter Thurrell said he is finalizing land leases in Townshend and Westminster, and at least one other location, for his other community solar farms.
Under the community solar model, any Green Mountain Power customer can purchase panels in the solar array and the credit the panels generate are used to pay for the electricity that is consumed in the customer's home or business.
"Vermont has the best net metering legislation in the country," Thurrell said. "Solar power has never been this affordable. For the first time ever it is cheaper to invest in solar panels than it is to pay for electricity every month."
Thurrell said he has the North Springfield site secured and is finalizing deals in Westminster and Townshend.
Each farm will produce enough electricity for about 25 households.
An average household needs between five to 10 kilowatts.
He said Soveren hopes to find additional locations as more customers look to be involved with the community solar projects.
Along with the state's net metering law, which allows customers to generate electricity off any solar array and use those credits against the electricity used at the home or business, the cost of solar panels has also dropped.
"There are no more hurdles for people to get around. Any GMP customer, including former CVPS customers, can be a part of this," said Thurrell. "The strong state support for renewable energy is making this possible."
Customers who purchase the solar panels can also use a 30 percent federal tax credit to help bring the price down on their investment.
Vermont also offers a 7.2 percent investment tax credit.
Thurrell said Soveren is donating 10 percent of the total credits from the community solar farms to a non-profit organization in the community where the farm is located.
The Springfield Food Co-op will receive the first donation from the North Springfield solar farm.
All maintenance and upkeep is included in the purchase price.
Depending on the size of the home or business, payments on the investment can be about equal to the average GMP bill.
It will take about 15 years to pay down the equipment, after which the power generated is free.
"Community solar makes it possible for anyone to have solar power, even if they don't own their own home," Thurrell said.
Where is the outrage from NoSag? Why are they not mobilizing opposition to this boondoggle? Why haven't they started a protest campaign if they are serious about protecting the environment and concerned about energy conversion?
ReplyDelete"What’s worse, harmful chemicals are increasingly used to manufacture solar cells in certain panels. Previously, one such chemical widely used was sulfurhexafluoride (SF6), a substance 22,800 times more dangerous to the environment than CO2, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
It was gradually replaced by nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), a chemical that is still 17,200 times more harmful than CO2."
source: http://www.dw.de/despite-bright-potential-solar-power-struggles-to-stay-clean/a-16858170
GOOD THING solar cell manufactruing has moved to China, where they don't have those pesky environmental protection laws, eh? And China is far from our NIMBYs' back yards, which is why they remain silent. Either that or they are still trying to pay off their bills from their last crusade.
Never mind that the durn things don't generate power when the sun don't shine.
I drink a mix of SF6 with gin and snort NF3 each morning Jean.
Deletehttps://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/t1.0-9/10007040_736785139695680_967477164_n.jpg
DeleteMe thinks Jean is wasting her talents. Surely some windfarm will pay her to stand in front of it huffing and puffing hot air. It's her calling in life. Don't let it pass you by, Jean.
DeleteAh, 4:15, written like the pinwheel of intellect you most assuredly are! How beautifully it spins in the wind tunnel between your ears!
DeleteA hundred years from now, tourists will be coming to Vermont to be charmed by all the windmills! It's just going to take a little mental re-adjustment to make it happen.
DeletePlutocrat spin-doctoring alert! The fat-cats haven't got their collective finger far enough into the solar power generation field to extract significant shekels from it. Their spin doctors throw out big-number mumbo-jumbo (like 17200 Times More Harmful - which must be way worse than, say, 10 times more harmful) and the pseudo-techies' minds blow gaskets.
ReplyDeleteIf you've ever bothered to look at NoSag's website, you'd know that "The purpose of our organization is to emphasize region-wide cooperation to educate residents about biomass, its hazards for people and the negative effects on the environment." BIOMASS Not every project that might impact the environment. And, yes, there are bills that need to be paid. It will be interesting to see if concerned citizens, like yourself, will protest the solar project. Given the research you've already done, I expect that you too will make an effort to preserve what you think is important to our town.
ReplyDeleteHey! I detect unmistakeable signs of REASONABLENESS in your post. Try to hold that in check, please. You had the opportunity to complain about Jean's "NoSag' (that's what bras are for) instead of NOSAG, and you USED it instead. Jean must be chuckling in her morning coffee.
DeleteThe irony would be complete if the solar farm reflected like a welding torch on the NOSAGers.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 12:37. In other words, the objections brought up by NoSag with regard to potential wastewater discharge, efficiency, and emissions were only because it was about biomass? NoSag would therefore have no objections to a proposed plant to manufacture (not just assemble), say, solar cells, and wouldn't question wastewater discharge, energy demand, or truck traffic? How about a pig farm? You guys ok with that?
ReplyDeleteThis is comparable to the hypothetical situation of a citizens group blocking an egg factory farm using arguments based on animal cruelty who then gush over the new deli with foie gras in the display case. The arguments served only to distract from the real objections. In NoSag's case, it was really about preserving the peace and quiet of living in a dying community.
@Monty, I don't possess the wealth to qualify as a plutocrat. I do have the academic pedigree, research career, peer-reviewed publications, service on honorary committees and editorial review boards, and scientific achievement awards to qualify as a "real" techie. Your snark is off the mark. ;)
Well, you sure as heck ain't the Jean I thought you were (an old Bryant coworker) - but is your area of expertise in climatology, alternative energy generation, or anything else germane? The plutocrats don't do the spinning themselves you know - they pay people. Some of them are computer nerds, some are technicians of one sort or another - and some are academicians. You can't buy into everything Doctor Bigdeal says, just because he has some letters after his name. First I look at his CV, then his associates if I can find them.
DeleteYep, I have evolved into one suspicious dude (snarky too).
Gee Monty, now I'm curious who you thought I was. I know of one other gal who has the same first name and I thought it was obvious I'm not her. I don't know if she worked at Bryant's or not though. Not my generation.
DeleteBack in my youth I dabbled a bit in solar PV, wrote a research proposal on fuel cells (it didn't get funded) and during a brief stint in a corporate research lab worked with some guys who were developing CVD GaAs as an alternative to doped Si. Seems to me at one point I taught a university class in electronic materials. And later when I taught freshman engineering I made sure to cover the concepts of energy balance and designing for total life-cycle / recylability. Meaning if you are going to use something you have to consider what is required to get it out of mother earth, convert it to the form you need, what you get out of it when it is being used, and what you do with it when it has reached the end of its useful life.
It's not my main area but I'll be bold and state that I'm much closer to the material than someone whose expertise is, say, anatomy. Judging by some of the editorials and letters to the editor I've seen, having a germane area of expertise doesn't appear to be a pre-requisite for spouting off on the subject in public.
The lady is a tax return preparer nowadays, I think. Plenty intelligent enough, but without your creds. "Spouting off" in public is pretty much what blogs are for. Some of them, like this one, have owners who share their stump. Reading the stump speeches on blogs is useful for getting an idea of what's 'in the air', but a lousy way of garnering facts&details. Those should be located as near their generation points as possible, and from pre-spindoctored sources. That ain't easy, but the Internet is an amazing resource.
DeleteThe above mass of blah-blah is intended to remove the poison from my observation that your CV doesn't change your Possible Plutocrat Minion rating. ;)
I'd make one miserable minion. I have a way of opening my mouth and saying what I think without regard for the consequences. I don't even know any plutocrats, much less do their bidding. But if it floats your boat to think I am a plutocrat minion, be happy.
DeleteThe only name twin who comes to mind is the former spouse of a locker mate of mine from high school. I'm sure they both make more $$ than I do. :)
I am buying in on the deal, at least two or three panels.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll just leave town
ReplyDeleteAccording to the article you linked, Jean, NF3 is also widely used in displays for cell phones and flat-screen tv's. There's also a serious problem of toxic waste in disposal of solar panels. However, safer materials are being developed and used more recently - though perhaps not so much in Asia as yet. These problems sound like they will be overcome by further engineering and economics. Solar is an energy technology for our future, as opposed to biomass, which despite much ingenious engineering remains a relatively inefficient and dirty technology handed down from the very dawn of humankind.
ReplyDeleteI'll point out that projections show it's mathematically unlikely that solar energy alone will be able to supply all the energy needs of society going forward. I remain hopeful that the potential of LENR technology will come to fruition, or that of other experimental technologies.
I'll point out mathematically, that if your parents did not have children, probably you won't either.
DeleteIt is so amazing to watch every attempt to go with a renewable resource energy project in the area gets attacked by someone on environmental grounds. The oil, coal, and fracking natural gas companies must just love this when even a progressive State like Vermont can't move forward towards renewables without warfare erupting. Did anyone watch the delightful idiocy that came from NOSAG operatives objecting to the application for an electric car charging station at the last Town meeting. Truly amazing.
ReplyDelete