DUMMERSTON — Alex Wilson, a member and former chairman of the Town Energy Committee, told Selectboard members on Aug. 21 that a number of developers are eager to construct a municipal solar electric system in or not far from town, but Wilson was unable to provide the kind of specifics the board said it would need to bring the idea before voters.
“There's a lot of interest out there within the commercial community for putting in these systems, and there are investors available that want to get the tax benefits of such systems and finance them, so it seems from what we've learned it's a fairly low-risk opportunity for the town to go in on a system that might serve a number of municipalities,” Wilson said.
Generally, the idea - which Selectmen authorized Wilson's committee to explore in May - was to partner with private developers and investors to construct a solar array that through net metering would provide discounted electricity for town and school use, and which might one day be owned by the town outright.
The backers would then reap tax credits associated with solar power, incentives municipalities can not benefit from directly.
Explaining net metering, Wilson said Vermont law allows energy consumers to benefit from a solar-power system that's on someone else's property as long as it's within the same utility territory. Surplus electricity so generated is put back into the system, earning a premium.
Wilson said his research put him in touch with at least three developers: Integrated Solar, a state investment pool that, he said, “seems reasonably safe from what I understand”; Southern Vermont Renewable Energy (Soveren), a solar installation and development company based in Westminster West; and a group based in Florida that he said is attracted to rooftop space in Rutland for solar collection.
Wilson said another energy committee member, who had more facts on hand, was unavailable, as he and his wife were welcoming a new baby. He added that the committee would present to the School Board as well.
By way of background, on March 20, the Brattleboro School Board signed a $130,000 solar net metering credit purchase agreement with Soveren, whose 500 kilowatt (kW) solar farm was anticipated to be worth an estimated annual $130,000 in net metering credits for the four town schools.
The farm will tie into Green Mountain Power's electrical grid, as any such project connected to Dummerston would.
At the Selectboard meeting, members peppered Wilson with questions about siting a solar farm here vs. on other land; working with developers; guaranteeing long-term premium rates and incentives; owning vs. leasing the array; and potential liability and exposure, not least of which from property tax on any solar farm here.
Wilson characterized an overture from Soveren as offering the facility for nothing up front, and having the town sign a 20-year agreement to purchase net-metered credits generated by the solar farm, with an option to buy the system after seven years at fair market value.
He also said that under some developers' options Dummerston need not site a farm here to get the benefit of net metering.
“They claim there's no risk. We would realize, I believe, an immediate reduction on our [municipal] electricity bills. Soveren [projects] a 12 percent reduction in energy bills immediately,” Wilson said.
Selectmen said Dummerston budgets $8,400 for town power, including for use in streetlights; they estimated the schools budget $25,000 for electricity. Residences and business here would not be affected under the town's net metering.
Selectboard Vice-chair Lewis White was not the first to sound a skeptical note, but he spoke perhaps most forcefully for the need to learn more about developers' interests in working with Dummerston:
“They're putting up hundreds of thousands of dollars to give us discounted electricity? I can't see them getting a tax break to cover that. There's got to be something there. How are they benefitting, really?”
Selectman Bill Holiday called for Wilson to return with more information: “something we could get out there so that people could begin to mull it over and begin to give us an idea of how they feel about it.”
Wilson said he would do so.