Brian Dubie, lieutenant governor of Vermont
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Things may come to those who wait — but only the things left by those who hustle.”
Energy developers to our north, south, east and west are hustling. Vermont needs to hustle for its own energy future, too – or be content with the leftovers.
We stand at an energy crossroads.
Our energy security is inseparable from our environmental security and our economic security. Contracts for three-quarters of our total electricity needs will expire in 2012 and 2015. I view this as an opportunity to act.
And to act, we must have a vision.
My vision for a better energy future is one that strengthens our economic, environmental, and energy security.
It includes more conservation and efficiency, and more renewable energy. It also leverages our strategic location to dramatically increase our energy options.
Continue Efficiency & Conservation Efforts
Vermont is a world leader in efficiency and conservation. At 2.3 cents per kWh, the average cost of saving electricity is a fraction of what it costs to generate it.
In Vermont, we have made significant investments in efficiency, in the form of the Energy Efficiency Charge included in our monthly electric bills. Since it began operating in 2000, Efficiency Vermont has helped us reduce electricity usage at work and at home by a total of more than $31 million.
Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a measure that allowed IBM to manage its own Energy Efficiency funds, and invest in its own in efficiency. IBM demonstrated that it could do it more effectively than Efficiency Vermont. GE Rutland is asking for the same opportunity.
Our objective should be to encourage and support employers and individuals to manage their own efficiency efforts. The development of a Smart Grid, smart meters and smart appliances will give us the tools we need for smarter power use. Smart Vermonters know that investing in energy savings benfits their pocketbooks.
Support In-State Renewables
Vermont ’s Clean Energy Development Fund promotes renewable energy projects for the long-term benefit of all Vermonters. Since established in 2005, CEDF has helped finance 84 projects that have added 9.6 mWh of clean energy generation in Vermont. Vermont Yankee’s owner, Entergy, will contribute approximately 5 million dollars this year to the CEDF.
The new Feed-In-Tariff program was designed to help bring another 50 mWh of renewables online, including solar, small hydro, wind, biomass and geothermal generation.
Capitalizing our state’s strategic location to establish a role for Vermont in regional transmission would assist with the economics of in-state renewables.
Leveraging Vermont ’s Strategic Location
Our friends to the north in Quebec want to sell power to our friends in southern New England and the mid-Atlantic. Hydro Quebec is currently constructing 4,000 MW of renewable green hydropower in Quebec. They need a way to move this green power. Other new renewable energy projects in upstate New York and New Hampshire have the same need.
New transmission infrastructure will be required to move these renewables to population centers to our south. Vermont has existing transmission corridors that could accommodate greater capacity today. With upgrades to our transmission infrastructure, we could increase our access to even more renewable energy options – and help pay for our own in-state renewables.
Building new transmission would create jobs. Having it would strengthen the stability and reliability of our power supply. And hosting it would be worth millions each year to those communities in its path.
Meanwhile, Vermont Yankee (VY) produces 640MW of base load power today. We buy about a third of our power — approximately 330 MW — from Vermont Yankee at a cost to us of 3.9 cents per kWh. Vermont utilities are negotiating with Entergy and Hydro Quebec now on the terms of future contracts.
Whether it shuts down in 2012, or is granted a license extension to run till 2032, VY someday will close. Now is the time to hustle and develop the new power sources we’ll need when it does. We must build transmission capacity with the future in mind.
Thomas Edison said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Now is the time for Vermont to get to work laying the groundwork for a secure energy future.
Brian Dubie, a Republican, is Vermont’s lieutenant governor.
The Lincoln and Edison quotes would most honestly be applied to Douglas Administration’s failure to buy the dams on the CT RIver. Talk about missed opportunity. Instead of owning our energy future, we are stuck with the leftovers, an outdated accident prone nuclear plant on that same river.