Vermont is the first state in the nation to install batteries that will provide backup power at the Statehouse if the electricity goes off.
The batteries can also be used regularly to lower the cost of electricity during peak usage periods.
The Samsung batteries were running as of Tuesday morning, after testing and charging last week. State officials and private-sector partners tout the installation as a win for the environment and for consumers, as part of efforts to move away from relying on fossil fuels. They say it can also save Vermonters money.
“Vermont is leading the way in this project,” said Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, chair of the House Institutions Committee.
The project was two years in the making, starting with a $450,000 allocation in 2019. The batteries replace a diesel generator that dates back to 1970 and was “well past its useful life,” said Jennifer Fitch, acting commissioner of Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services.
Northern Reliability and Dynapower, both Vermont-based companies, contributed to the design and installation of the battery system. Northern Reliability procured and installed the batteries, while Dynapower provided the inverter.
Jay Bellows, CEO of Northern Reliability, estimates the batteries will last 15 to 20 years.
A Kentucky-based company, Virtual Peaker, is providing software that Green Mountain Power uses to manage energy flowing from the batteries back to the grid, which is one way the batteries will help to reduce costs for taxpayers and GMP ratepayers.
According to Fitch, the battery backup power system “allows the state to sell energy back to the grid during peak demand and buy it back during low demand, reducing the state’s operation costs.” The state sells energy to the grid through GMP’s program called Bring Your Own Device.
Electric rates go up during peak hours, so using stored energy to meet demand allows the most expensive and dirtiest sources of electricity to get turned off. Mari McClure, CEO of Green Mountain Power, said that storing power on batteries can lower the cost of electricity for all ratepayers.
“It’s the first of its kind in the country,” said McClure of the batteries in the Statehouse. “We really need to continue to build on this innovative work.”
McClure estimates the battery system will save $44,000 over the next 10 years.
Gov. Phil Scott lauded the project as an example of reducing emissions without hurting the economy.
“I know that many think clean energy must be more expensive,” Scott said, “but the work done today shows that not only can we reduce carbon emissions, but if we’re strategic, we can also save money in the process.”
Scott said the project is a good example of what can be accomplished through partnerships between government and the private sector.
According to Green Mountain Power, the batteries will lower emissions by about 6,000 pounds of carbon a year, the equivalent of not using 300 gallons of gasoline. Before the batteries, fossil fuels would power the diesel generator.
For batteries to work as a climate solution, the energy going into the electric grid needs to be clean.
While utilities and the state tout a clean energy portfolio that is around 92% free of carbon — and primed for technology like batteries — some renewable energy advocates say that formula doesn’t factor in emissions associated with large hydropower operations, the source of about half of Vermont’s electricity, according to Department of Public Service data.
Vermont is the only New England state that considers large-scale hydro, such as Hydro-Quebec, a source of renewable energy, even though scientific studies have pointed out the link to carbon emissions and deforestation.
“While large dams are assumed to have zero greenhouse gas impact, they really don’t,” said Steve Crowley of the Sierra Club. “The assumption that it’s zero is way off.”
Crowley said electrification is the way to go, but “that puts the pressure on us to also clean up the grid right now.”
Bill Bender agrees; he’s an economist who founded Solaflect Energy. As more technologies, like batteries, are added to the grid, he says it’s important to do an honest accounting of how clean electricity sources truly are. Adding new renewables to the grid is important to provide additional power.
As the state turns away from fossil fuels, some say it’s too soon to cross clean electricity off an honest to-do list. Strategies like installing batteries are effective at combating climate change when they are powered by clean sources of electricity.
According to Bender’s calculations, Vermont gets most of its electricity from 20th-century sources, and that’s a problem. “If you don’t do anything different than you did last century, nothing changes,” he says.
