Renewable energy planning begins

Renewable energy planning starting

Andrew McKeever

GNAT-TV News Project

MANCHESTER  — Municipalities will have greater say going forward when it comes to weighing in on proposed sites for renewable energy projects, but not outright “veto” power.

Under Act 174, a statute passed earlier this year by the Legislature, communities will obtain a status of “substantial deference” when it comes to an assessment by the state’s Public Service Board on whether a proposed project, such as a solar or wind turbine array, gets a green light. That, however, will be contingent on municipalities filing and getting approval for enhanced energy planning before they go before the public service board to offer testimony on a proposed energy project within their borders.

The public service board issues certificates of public good for energy and transmission projects it considers in the state’s interest, which may or may not always align closely with local community sentiment.

With an eye towards trying to give localities more influence, Act 174, scheduled to come into effect next year, provides a mechanism for improving energy planning at the regional and local levels and to give localities more say in the siting of renewable energy projects, said Jim Sullivan, the executive director of the Bennington County  Regional Commission.

Sullivan attended a meeting of Manchester’s Conservation Commision Monday, Sept. 19, to give a preliminary overview of the new legislation and how it might impact Manchester. The BCRC is working on a county-wide regional plan to implement Act 174, and he expects to offer training sessions to municipal officials later this year, possibly in December, he told the town’s commissioners.

Right now, the standard accorded localities is “due consideration,” he said in an interview after his presentation to the Conservation Commission.

‘Substantial deference’ — a formal legal term — “is about as close as you can get to a veto without it being an absolute,” Sullivan said.

But in return, localities are going to be charged with performing a greater level of energy planning, determining which sites and locations in their communities will be appropriate for renewable energy projects, in order to boost the state’s efforts at reaching a goal of supplying 90 percent of Vermont’s energy needs from renewable resources by 2050. In order to have more input into the public service board’s process for determining if one qualifies for certificates of public good, towns will need certified renewable energy plans.

The BCRC is in the process of finalizing their regional plan, which they expect to unveil sometime in November, Sullivan said.

Once the BCRC has their regional plan approved by the public service board, towns can come to the BCRC to get their plan approved or prepped for the service board’s review. The criteria the public service board will be using to asses such plans is still under review and development, however, Sullivan said.

He expects such standards, when finalized, to be comprehensive and go beyond simple questions of where solar panels or wind turbine arrays would be sited, and will cover issues such as whether a municipal plan supports energy conservation, downtown development and public transportation. A town should also expect to have identified parcels of land that would be suitable for renewable energy development, he added.

To reach the state’s goal of 90 percent renewable energy by 2050, he expects there will be much more emphasis on electric production, to power electric cars and other forms of energy use which are not dependent on fossil fuels such as oil or gas.

“The intent of the targets is to get municipalities to see this as transformative,” he said.

Michael Cooperman, one of the members of the conservation commission, asked Sullivan if one of the criteria a town would have to meet would be that a certain level of renewable energy would have to be produced in a given locality  in order for their plan to be approved by the public service board.

“Is the acceptability of the municipal plan based on how close it comes to meeting the state goal of 90 percent renewables,” Cooperman asked. “If we put enough ‘X’s’ — (or areas ruled inappropriate for renewable energy development) on the map such that we …. are consumers and not producers and our renewables can only reach 30 percent, is that criteria for rejection of the plan?”

Sullivan said that was one of “leading questions” the PSB was grappling with amid forming assumptions about how much renewable energy might need to be imported from other states. In theory, the state could meet the 90 percent goal by tapping hydroelectric, wind and solar power from out-of-state, and how much that will or should be was under scrutiny.

What is strongly assumed is that will be greater demand for more electricity, he said.

Alan Benoit, the conservation commission’s chairman, said afterwards that he was pleased that towns would be getting more influence in the approval process for energy siting.

“I think it’s good for the community to have a little more clout, but not to veto,” he said. “We should be on equal ground as the developer in front of the public service board.”

Watch for a video segment of the conservation commission’s meeting with Sullivan that’s expected to be posted on gnat-tv’s website next week.