Governor Douglas Announces Energy Grant to Fund Solar Project at Farm Way in Bradford

Montpelier, VT – June 15, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) – Governor Jim Douglas tomorrow will announce that Farm Way has received a grant through the Clean Energy Development Fund (CEDF) to construct solar panels at their Bradford store. 

A computer panel inside the store displays real-time information on how much electricity the solar panels are producing, so the visitors who come from far and wide can learn about the technology – and how Farm Way is greening its carbon footprint – while they shop. The system is generating 77,000 kW annually which helps the store avoid sending 76,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air annually.

“This project will allow Farm Way to reduce their carbon foot print significantly,” said Governor Douglas. “It will also provide visitors to their destination store the opportunity to see first hand how this green energy system works. It will serve as a tremendous educational tool for our state. I am pleased to announce that Farm Way was awarded $226,000 to install solar panels.”

This is just one of the many important projects that the CEDF has been responsible for. Since it’s inception in 2005, the CEDF has funded 84 projects with $2.2 million of low interest loans and $13.2 million in grants resulting in 9.6 Megawatts of renewable capacity.

“And we’re just getting started,” the Governor continued. “At my direction, the Public Service Department filed Vermont’s application for $21,999,000 of ARRA funds for the State Energy Program. In addition, we’re going to leverage $7 million of funds that comes to us from the agreement reached with Vermont Yankee, to give us what will be the highest level of money invested in renewable energy in Vermont’s history.”

The plan as filed with the federal government calls for the use this money for grants and loans for renewable energy production. The state expects to use many of the successful strategies we’ve relied on in the past through the Clean Energy Development Fund, including wind, solar, cow power, and other biomass projects.

We estimate that $150 million in new investment will be stimulated and encouraged by the wise use of this money from ARRA. The Governor believes that with these record levels of federal funding comes a great responsibility – to take advantage of this once in a generation chance, and select the best projects that will have the greatest impact on our energy portfolio.

That’s why our plan calls for ARRA funds for energy to be given out based on the efficiency of projects and Farm Way is a great example of money well spent – we need to make sure we evaluate each project on a case by case basis, because we know there will certainly be more requests than we have funding to meet.

Through our efforts, Vermont will generate more than 3 million megawatts of power. We will save 860 million pounds of CO2 – if we assume these projects will displace natural gas. We will be able to deliver renewable power at less than $.06/kwh at wholesale, after all credits.