The Public Service Board has given final approval for Central Vermont Public Service Corp. to move forward with a $60 million investment that will transform the way customers use their electricity. Dubbed SmartPower, CVPS will replace all 160,000 meters with ones that will allow customers to control how much electricity they use. “The prospect that consumers across Vermont and New England will be able to respond to price signals and thus reduce peak demand over time is a central benefit of the Smart Grid and AMI (alternative metering infrastructure) specifically,” the PSB wrote in its Aug. 6 decision.

The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund has awarded $334,765 in grant funds to develop local biofuels and foster the development of a viable biomass-to-biofuels industry in Vermont that uses local resources to replace petroleum with renewable alternatives. Ellen Kahler, VSJF Executive Director, stated that the “catastrophe of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is yet another reminder of the consequences of our dependence on non-renewable fossil fuels for energy.  As the devastating ecological, cultural, and economic consequences of the spill unfold in the Gulf of Mexico, Vermont is continuing to explore opportunities for entrepreneurs, farmers, educators and others to develop renewable, sustainable energy alternatives. “

Vermont leads the nation in meeting goals for weatherizing low-income homes using stimulus funds, and a state official says that merits some special consideration from the federal government. Shaun Donahue, director of the state’s Office of Economic Opportunity, said he’s asked federal energy officials to give unused stimulus weatherization money — assuming there is any once the program ends — to states that meet or exceed their goals.

Developers of a three- to five-turbine commercial-scale wind project on the Georgia-Milton town line — the first project of its kind in Chittenden County — received a certificate of public good Monday from the state Public Service Board. The board concluded Georgia Mountain Community Wind’s anticipated annual output (it would supply about 3,500 Vermont homes with their electrical needs) and its relatively benign effect on natural resources outweigh critics’ claims the project would diminish the view and property values.

The Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC) and American Municipal Power, Inc. (AMP) have signed a contract for VEIC to provide a wide range of energy-efficiency and implementation services for the municipal electric utility members of the Columbus, Ohio-based nonprofit wholesale power supplier. AMP’s 128 publicly-owned municipal electric system members serve more than 570,000 customers in six states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia. The goal of the new venture, known as the “Efficiency Smart Power Plant,” is to encourage residential, business and industrial customers to adopt cost-effective energy efficiency services that provide reliable and verifiable cost savings.

Inviting businesses to set up and promote energy technologies in Vermont’s state parks might seem incongruous to the natural outdoor experience parks offer visitors. But parks officials say the new Innovation Partnership promotes the same environmental ethics that park personnel teach visitors and use to guide facility development. “Renewable and alternative energy is easily within the mission of the state parks,” said Craig Whipple, state parks director. “We have incorporated those kinds of technologies for a long time, so we have an interest in them.”

Vermont is the first state in the country to declare large-scale hydroelectric power as a renewable energy resource, a move that clears the way for a new power contract with the province of Quebec. Gov. James Douglas signed a renewable energy bill into law shortly after noon Friday. The renewable energy bill creates tax credits to spur development of small-scale projects across Vermont, expands the state's "cow power" projects that use methane to produce energy, allows the state's National Guard to build solar panels on its buildings and greatly streamlines the process of approving renewable energy projects.

Vermont is the first state in the country to declare large-scale hydroelectric power as a renewable energy resource, a move that clears the way for a new power contract with the province of Quebec. Gov. James Douglas signed a renewable energy bill into law shortly after noon Friday. It is expected to be the final bill the Republican leader will put his signature on during his eight years in office. The renewable energy bill creates tax credits to spur development of small-scale projects across Vermont, expands the state's "cow power" projects that use methane to produce energy, allows the state's National Guard to build solar panels on its buildings and greatly streamlines the process of approving renewable energy projects.

After firing up a $12 million biomass plant to burn wood for heat last winter, Middlebury College is hoping to turn another local resource — manure from the county’s dairy farms — into an alternative form of heating fuel to power the campus. On-farm methane digesters have already drawn attention in Vermont for using manure from some of the state’s larger dairy farms to generate methane gas, which is burned to create electricity. Now, the college could be the first in the state to use bio-methane, as it’s calling the byproduct of the manure-to-fuel process, to replace heating oil.

Encore Redevelopment, based in a Main Street loft in Burlington, isn’t a Fortune 500 company. The nearly 3-year-old company has four employees, a rangy, cheerful hound named Franklin and a contagious sense of purpose. Founder Chad Farrell, 40, flanked by his staff of three recent college graduates (two from UVM and one from Middlebury), is a developer who helps visionary builders and municipalities convert contaminated land, such as landfills and old mines, into renewable energy sites by guiding them through what he calls the “labyrinth” of regulatory barriers to reclamation and redevelopment.

Green Mountain Power has received a Certificate of Public Good from the state of Vermont to build a nearly 1,000-panel solar array on property it owns in Berlin, Vermont. The project will generate 200 kilowatts of electricity, and is the largest permitted solar project in Vermont, GMP officials said. "This project is an important part of our overall energy and climate strategy to increase the amount of renewable energy generation in our state," said Mary Powell, president and chief executive officer of Green Mountain Power. "Using renewables benefits our customers by supplying them with low-carbon emission, low-cost and highly reliable energy sources."

A consultant and a local biomass study committee will look at the feasibility of carving Middlebury into five separate energy districts, with the concept of endowing each with a communal woodchip heating plant. The study group, with the aid of a consultant and a combined total of $250,000 in state and federal funding, has been working since last year to see if Middlebury has the potential to establish one or more biomass plants to provide a cost-effective, renewable energy alternative for local businesses that now rely on imported fossil fuels for heating.

National Life Group announced on Wednesday that its biomass energy project will meet 90 percent of the heating needs of its Montpelier campus while reducing the company's annual carbon footprint by 45 percent. The $2 million project, scheduled to be completed in late summer, is expected to cut National Life's annual usage of heating oil from 210,000 gallons to about 30,000 gallons. The company's $500,000 annual heating bill will be cut roughly in half. National Life's 500,000-square-foot headquarters is one of the largest commercial buildings in Vermont.

If Vermont Yankee shuts down in 2010, the state will have to start looking elsewhere to meet its energy needs. But “elsewhere” might be in our own backyards. Advocates for renewable energy sources such as biomass, wind and solar want to make local power happen right here. The recently launched Renewable Energy Atlas of Vermont could accelerate that process. The online atlas is a project of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund that allows users — both consumers and renewable energy providers — to get a picture of the sustainable-energy portfolio not only within the state but in their own neighborhoods.

A Vermont electrician recently earned the renewable energy industry's preeminent certification for solar electric installers. Matthew Murphy, 28, is now certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners, an organization that implements voluntary credentialing and certification programs for green energy practitioners. All professionals certified by the board must meet an extensive experience prerequisite then pass an intensive exam developed in accordance with the trade's best practices. There are currently 16 such installers in Vermont.