This commentary is by Andy Stenger, director of facilities & resort services at Jay Peak Resort. He is the project manager on the electric boiler project. He lives in Brownington.
This “fact check” commentary is written in response to Andrew Gentile’s commentary May 24 on the Jay Peak Electric Boiler Project.
Last week. Jay Peak craned into place a new 3-megawatt electric boiler. This groundbreaking project is one that every Vermonter can be proud of.
There are several inaccuracies to Mr. Gentile’s May 24 opinion piece.
Mr. Gentile states, “This project doesn’t seem to make sense from an engineering standpoint, and ironically it will probably result in a net gain in carbon. Like many other green energy projects, this one appears to be a NIMBY approach to carbon emissions. It is true that while the electric boiler is in service, there will be less carbon emitted specifically at Jay Peak. However, it is also true that whatever carbon savings occur will be more than offset by even more carbon being emitted at the power plants that will provide the electricity for Jay Peak.”
“The most glaring defect with this project is that electricity in the U.S. comes mostly from coal and natural gas power plants. Using more electricity from the grid will result in more fossil fuels being burned, regardless of who uses the electricity and where it is used.”
What Mr. Gentile fails to acknowledge is that 100% of Vermont Electric Cooperative’s power supply comes from non-carbon-emitting sources. What this means is that increased electrical loads at the resort will not result in more carbon being emitted elsewhere. Any carbon emission savings from the project is a net carbon savings. Mr. Gentile’s argument, and his correspondingly self-declared “most glaring defect,” is simply untrue.
Mr. Gentile states, “Antora Energy’s software cannot change the routing of the electric grid, nor can it select where Jay Peak’s power comes from. There is no high-voltage switching apparatus controlled by Antora software. Jay Peak is going to use whatever electricity that shows up on its line, which is almost certainly not large enough to support a 3-megawatt load.”
The facts are that Vermont Electric Cooperative upgraded primary transmission lines to the resort to make sure sufficient power is available to operate the 3-megawatt boiler as well as all other loads at the resort. Vermont Electric Cooperative uses a 10MW substation to supply power at the resort; the capacity is there.
One important related fact that Mr. Gentile fails to bring up is that there is an oversupply of renewable energy in the Sheffield-Highgate Export Interface. What this means is that from time to time the existing electrical grid cannot handle power being produced by renewable resources, in this case wind. The wind farms are often curtailed due to the grid being constrained.
The Jay Peak electric boiler will alleviate some of these constraints and allow for more renewables to reach the homes of Vermonters.
We have been working on this project for over two years. We are extremely proud of the effort to reduce our carbon footprint and help northern Vermont shift to more renewable power resources. We hope other large utility consumers In Vermont will follow our lead.
