This commentary is by Lori Barg, founder and chief executive of Community Hydro in Plainfield.
Vermont’s undeveloped hydroelectric resources are an alternative to enable Vermont to develop its resources in an environmentally sound way instead of greenwashed power from Hydro-Quebec that has flooded an area equivalent to more than half the size of the state of Vermont.
I am an owner of small hydroelectric plants, and patented a modular hydro system to enable affordable development of small, environmentally sound hydro that could be used at some of Vermont’s 1,200 unpowered dams to promote local economies, grid resilience and form the backbone for renewable micro-grids.
I describe myself as a drug dealer — the drug is electricity. When people cannot charge their phones, use their computers or pump their water, they go into withdrawal. It is not pretty.
Fortunately we have options. David Budbill once wrote he lived in Judevine, a town of 6 billion souls, 600 of them human. Imagine a system where Vermonters live within our resources and don’t call it “green” to flood and drown and murder billions of souls.
Vermont is a bit larger than 6 million acres. In order to get “green” hydro, Vermonters have accepted Hydro-Quebec’s flooding an area (3.88 million acres) equivalent to over half the state of Vermont, displacing native people, caribou, mammals and fish. Imagine flooding more than half of the land in Vermont. Unimaginable.
Vermont’s undeveloped hydroelectric resources are substantial. Vermonters like hydro. Vermont was built on hydro. Vermont’s villages are along rivers because hydro powered Vermont. Histories like Zadock Thompson’s (1796-1856) detail the importance of hydro to the development of Vermont.
In today’s world, with today’s technology, hydro could be the backbone of resilient micro-grids. Recently, a new initiative started by Vermonter Dan Reicher brought hydro developers and environmental groups together: Uncommon Dialogue. Many years ago, Vermont tried something similar with the Stakeholders Hydroelectric Interested Parties Process (SHIPP) in front of the Natural Resources Board. Those efforts to develop some of the hundreds of megawatts of environmentally sound undeveloped hydro in Vermont came to naught.
However there are options that benefit regulators, potential developers of hydro at existing dams and drops, the Vermont economy and our ability to make Vermont’s grid more resilient. For example, Vermont could develop a process similar to England’s excellent regulatory example, with small hydro being permitted within five months. England’s process uses objective criteria and administrative timelines.This benefits both regulators and potential developers.
Currently, neither Vermont nor the U.S. provide objective criteria or reasonable administrative timelines. Currently, any hydro developer and regulator can be looking at over five years and millions of dollars to get a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, along with permission from the State of Vermont.
Vermont fortunately has the resources to live within our means, as Vermonters did through the 19th and 20th centuries, using local fish-friendly renewable power, more efficient technologies and conservation practices. And a new twist on old technologies — Closed Loop Hydro pumped storage, instead of batteries sourced with conflict minerals.
A regulatory environment with objective criteria and administrative timelines helps the regulators and the regulated and enable Vermont to have access to a locally sourced drug — hydroelectricity — as the renewable backbone of resilient micro-grids.
