[B]ENNINGTON — The Bennington County Regional Commission is rolling out an energy plan that includes data on current usage and sources, projections of future use, and strategies to support the state’s goals for cutting consumption and shifting more toward renewable energy production.
BCRC Executive Director James Sullivan gave a presentation on the 161-page draft report Thursday in Bennington. He said the commission will give another presentation in Manchester on Dec. 1 and seek comments before completing a final draft.
The other two plans being prepared with funding help from the Department of Public Service are for the Northwest Regional Planning Commission and the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission.
The plans were prepared in partnership with the Energy Action Network, officials in various state agencies, the Vermont Energy Investment Corp., Green Mountain Power and others.
Once adopted, the regional plan — and more focused energy plans that towns could prepare — will be due “substantial deference” during Public Service Board hearings on the siting of energy facilities. Developers also can expect a financial incentive on the sale of power produced by solar, wind, hydro or other facilities if they locate in an area designated as preferred for such projects, Sullivan said.
He said that among the BCRC towns, Bennington and Dorset have already completed much of the work required for a community energy plan. Once the regional plan is approved by the state, the planning commission will be able to undertake the initial review of town energy plans.
On Thursday, Sullivan outlined various sections of the plan, which can be viewed in its entirety on the BCRC website.
The report contains maps illustrating what were determined to be the most and least acceptable areas in the county for solar, wind, hydro and other energy generating facilities. Sullivan said the factors considered included access to sufficient light or wind for those forms of generation. The solar locations are primarily in valley regions, while the wind sites are along mountain ridges.
Other factors included access to electricity transmission lines; whether a site was in a wetlands or conservation area or on state or national forest land; and whether historical sites or other features might be affected, Sullivan said.
Concerning wind sites, he said a 1-kilometer buffer zone was added from any residence.
Graphs also illustrate the total amount of land required to meet the state’s energy use goals for 2050, which include receiving 90 percent of energy consumption from renewable resources and reducing overall energy consumption by a third.
One graph, for instance, shows that the goals for solar energy’s share of the projected total need would require about 800 acres from an estimate 14,000 acres of land considered acceptable for solar facilities. The entire BCRC region covers 370,000 acres.
After the plan is approved at the regional level, town plans can be developed and approved as well, Sullivan said. Under Act 174, communities that do not have a local plan showing where renewable energy facilities would be preferable would still have the expectation of “due consideration” when a developer proposes a facility.
The Legislature had sought in Act 174 to address concern that communities had too little say over the location of energy projects, Sullivan said, while continuing to allow the PSB to overrule blanket-type local opposition to any local projects that would be of benefit regionwide or statewide.
Among the questions raised during the presentation was whether there should be more focus on small-scale projects by homeowners or businesses. In that way, all the power generated at those sites could be used locally, rather than be fed into the electrical grid. Those uses would be the most efficient in terms of producing and using power, Sullivan said.
Referring to a section of the plan on energy use and the sources of energy, he said “the vast majority of energy” used in the county is produced or comes from out of the area.
A key goal is to produce more energy locally, Sullivan said, since most of the money spent on energy from outside sources flows out of Bennington County, and local income and employment could be created by production of energy and related services or products within the region.
“There is a lot of room for local businesses and jobs and economic development,” he said.
Energy use for the county costs about $150 million a year, or an average of $4,000 a person. Of that, 39 percent goes for transportation, 32 percent for heating, hot water and other building uses, and 29 percent for electricity.
Another question Thursday was whether, in light of evolving technology, the plan will be updated regularly. Sullivan said revisions every eight years will be required, and the state revises its energy projections periodically as well.
He said that type of rapid change is reflected in the emerging market for heat pumps, which has accelerated only recently.
