ESSEX — Vermont’s largest electric utility is partnering with a national energy company to test a new model for distributing power to customers.
The partnership announced Tuesday between Green Mountain Power and NRG Energy Inc., a fortune 250 electricity provider headquartered in New Jersey, aims to build electricity infrastructure that is less vulnerable to power outages caused by extreme weather events.
She described the current energy infrastructure as “archaic” and made up of “twigs and twine” that will cost the nation tens of billions of dollars over the next decade.
“The system we have now is very challenged because it’s really big,” Powell said at a news conference at the Essex Culinary Resort & Spa. She said the future of energy distribution is smaller grid networks that rely on power generated locally.
NRG Energy (not to be confused with Renewable NRG Systems in Hinesburg) is one of several companies working on so-called micro-grids. The smaller grids can operate independent of larger electric grid networks and can be less vulnerable to widespread power outages.
Powell said through the agreement with NRG, GMP will purchase “intellectual capital” from the company that is necessary for the development of micro-grids in Vermont. The technology includes solar power and energy storage units.
Crane said the nation’s electricity infrastructure, which is made up of 130 million wooden poles, cannot withstand the damage expected from weather events caused by climate change.
NRG is building a micro-grid on a private Caribbean island resort in the British Virgin Islands. The Necker Island project will be 75 percent renewable and will have wind and solar energy storage, according to a company news release.
Crane said the shift from the traditional electric grid to a micro-grid has to have political support. Gov. Peter Shumlin attended the news conference and supports the partnership. Crane said Shumlin introduced the two companies. According to VTDigger’s campaign finance database, NRG Energy’s political action committee donated $3,000 to Shumlin’s campaign this election cycle.
Powell said the company has a broad and flexible partnership agreement that does not prevent GMP from working with other companies that are developing similar technologies.
GMP has broken ground on a solar farm located at the closed Rutland landfill that includes battery storage. Powell said the company will push for additional energy storage projects.
Crane said battery storage is still expensive, and the best form of energy storage is natural gas. Vermont Gas, the state’s natural gas utility, is planning to bring natural gas to Rutland, where GMP plans to build its first micro-grids.
GMP plans to bring several of NRG’s technologies into Vermont by 2015. These products include electric vehicle charging stations; portable power devised to charge cellphones; power consumption management tools, including cellphone applications to manage home electricity consumption; and power generators that provide heat, electricity and energy storage.
Crane says the new technology could influence the “sociology” of energy consumption.
