Vermont expands CLEAN Program from 50MW to 127.5MW

Late last week, Vermont’s Governor Shumlin signed the 2012 Energy Bill into law, which among other benefits saw the state’s CLEAN Program expand from 50MW to 127.5MW. The bill outlines that the capacity of any distributed generation facility that provides “sufficient benefits to the operation and management of the electric grid” because of its location or other characteristics will not count towards the overall program cap of 127.5MW. Thus, this portion of the legislation mandates that no limit exists on the amount of clean local energy produced from facilities providing locational benefits.

“Vermont legislators have listened to the farmers and local business owners who called for expansion of Vermont’s CLEAN program,” said Craig Lewis, executive director of the Clean Coalition.  “This bill shows a viable pathway for states across the country to procure clean local energy and illuminates the significant locational benefits associated with generating wholesale energy close to where energy is used,” concluded Lewis.