Posts By: Nathaniel Gibson

Bright days ahead: The sun rises on another solar farm and more jobs in Vermont – Rutland Herald Article

Posted on August 7, 2011 by - Environment, Montpelier-Barre Times Argus, Rutland Herald

Bright days ahead: The sun rises on another solar farm and more jobs in Vermont

AllSun Tracker panels capture rays at the South Burlington farm. The panels are equipped with wireless and GPS technology that allows them to track the sun's path and generate over 40% more energy.

Nathaniel Gibson
Correspondent

Renewable energy sources are proliferating across Vermont, including wind, hydro, solar, biomass and geothermal projects. Last month, the state’s largest solar farm to date was brought online in South Burlington during a ceremony intended to showcase the array’s technological innovations, the jobs created by such projects and the future of clean energy in Vermont.

The 2.2-megawatt array features 382 5.5-kilowatt panels equipped with GPS and wireless technology so they can orient to the sun’s path. By tracking the sun, the panels can produce over 40 percent more energy compared to traditional fixed-panel solar arrays. This array, the first in North America to use such a configuration, will produce an estimated 2.91 million kilowatts of power annually.

The panels are designed to withstand Vermont weather. After sundown, each panel returns to a horizontal resting position for the night. If snow falls overnight, most will be dumped when the panels resume operation in the morning and tilt to the sun – and the rest will melt as the panels heat up. Internal wind sensors signal the panels to go into their horizontal resting positions during windy conditions to protect them from wind damage.

The panels, AllSun Trackers, are manufactured locally by AllEarth Renewables, Inc., of Williston. Founded in 2005, the company initially focused on manufacturing small-scale wind turbines, but decided a few years later to shift its focus to solar trackers.
Speakers at the July 27 commissioning event included Gov. Peter Shumlin, Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, Speaker of the House Shap Smith and David Blittersdorf, CEO and founder of AllEarth Renewables.

“This project not only produces renewable energy from the sun; it creates a lot of local jobs,” said Blittersdorf. “We’ve innovated and refined our AllSun Tracker so it can be affordably used to power homes or businesses – and at the same time make up a utility-sized farm like this project in South Burlington.”

The land used for the project is owned by two local developers, Joe Larkin and Patrick Michael, who submitted an application to the Vermont Standard Offer Program. The program assists renewable energy producers by guaranteeing long-term contracts and setting rates that allow them to recoup their initial investment and operating costs. The power generated by the South Burlington farm is being sold back to the Vermont Sustainably Priced Energy Enterprise Development (SPEED) program, an initiative managed by the Vermont Electric Power Producers that is designed to encourage the growth of renewable energy in the state by setting goals for renewable energy production. By 2017, the SPEED program aims to generate 20 percent of the state’s energy needs from renewable energy.

After their application was approved, Larkin and Michael began working with AllEarth Renewables, who partnered with many local companies to assist with the installation process. Grennon’s Solderworks of Bristol performed the soldering work for the trackers’ electronics, cable parts were supplied by Foxfire Energy of Chittenden, and metalwork was done by NSA Industries of Lyndonville and North East Precision of St. Johnsbury. Two Williston-based contractors, J.A. Morrissey and Engineers Construction, Inc., provided manpower and expertise for the on-site groundwork as well as the actual mounting and installation of the panels.

Expansion of solar energy sources in the state means an increase in clean energy jobs. “One of the things that’s really great about this solar farm and the work of AllEarth Renewables is the number of jobs that go into such a venture,” says Andrew Savage, the company’s director of communications and public affairs. “It’s exciting for all of us to see clean energy manufacturing and jobs growing within the state.” The company employs 26 full-time staff and 5 seasonal staff and has manufactured and installed over 800 solar tracker systems.

Jeanne Morrissey, president of J.A. Morrissey, spoke emotionally of the significance of such local, collaborative efforts for working class families in this era of economic recession: “To have to have conversations over whether we are going to heat the house or going to feed our kids is a really hard conversation … Jobs mean the ability to stay in a home and raise a family.”

Smaller versions of the AllSun Tracker panels are effective in residential settings. A single 4.1-kilowatt tracker produces about 490 kilowatts per month – greater than half of an average Vermont household’s energy consumption, according to estimates by the Vermont Department of Public Service. The panels are also designed for net metering: The electricity generated is routed first to the owner’s residence or business. Any excess is fed back into the grid and is effectively sold back to the utility in credits as the owner’s electric meter runs backward.

To offset the cost of installing residential systems, AllEarth Renewables offers power purchase agreements. Customers pay a reduced amount of $4,400 up front for the panel and over the next five years pay for the solar power they produce at a cost equal to what they would have paid the electric utility. At the end of the five-year period, customers can renew the agreement for five more years or purchase the panel at fair market value, estimated to be 30 percent of the original price. If a customer decides to purchase the panel, half of the up-front payment ($2,200) is credited towards the purchase.

Each panel is equipped with a wireless reporting system that transmits daily data on energy production. This data provides current owners with information about their own trackers’ production and also allows prospective owners to gauge the production that they can expect.

Encouraged by the demand for solar technology within the state, AllEarth Renewables is planning to expand beyond Vermont. The company hopes that out-of-state demand will allow it to increase manufacturing capacity and hire more employees while remaining rooted in Vermont.

Nathaniel Gibson is a freelance writer who lives in Pawlet. He can be contacted via www.nathanielrgibson.com.

The article originally appeared in the Rutland Herald and the Times Argus:
July 7, 2011
Section: ENVIRONMENT

More than solar at this fest: Annual SolarFest event celebrates sustainable living and more – Rutland Herald Article

Posted on July 31, 2011 by - Montpelier-Barre Times Argus, Rutland Herald

Volunteers for Peace Performance during SolarFest 2010

The Volunteers for Peace perform a Skit on the main stage during SolarFest 2010.

More than solar at this fest:  Annual SolarFest event celebrates sustainable living and more

Nathaniel Gibson
Correspondent

To call SolarFest a renewable energy festival doesn’t really do justice to this unique annual event at Forget-Me-Not Farm in Tinmouth, scheduled this summer for the weekend of July 15 to 17. It is indeed a celebration, one that combines learning the skills required to cope with a changing environment in the context of a beautiful natural setting, with plenty of good food and entertainment thrown in. But it’s much more than a fun learning experience. SolarFest is a process that has brought families, communities and even countries together for almost an entire generation now.

Since its beginning 17 years ago, SolarFest has matured from a small gathering of 200 to an event that attracts thousands of attendees. Despite its growth, the festival continues to draw all its power, including power for the sound and lights on the main stage, from renewable sources.  This year, in recognition of the organization’s commitment to renewable energy and sustainability, SolarFest was awarded the 2011 Governor’s Award for environmental excellence.

SolarFest will mark its seventeenth anniversary this summer by offering, as always, timely information on the latest developments in renewable energy resources, coupled with great entertainment, all kinds of food and lots of activities for children. This year’s keynote speaker is Jeffery Wolfe, CEO and Chairman of groSolar, one of the largest installers of residential solar power systems in the country. The lineup of musical acts includes Jon Cleary’s Philthy Phew, Lynn Miles, Peter Mulvey, Antje Duvekot, Bow Thayer and Perfect Trainwreck, and Roomful of Blues.

Attendees will be able to choose from more than 80 different workshops over the course of the weekend, organized thematically into five tracks. Just a few sample workshops are: Net-Metered PV Systems (renewable energy track), High Performance Natural Buildings for Cold Climates (green building track), Fossil Fuel Free Farming (sustainable agriculture track), Life After Vermont Yankee (thriving locally track), and Climate Change 101 (solar generation youth track).

Frequent tours are offered to introduce key features of the festival, such as the informational panels and the on-site renewable energy system — which even incorporates solar hot water showers. The week preceding SolarFest a photovoltaic workshop serves the dual purpose of providing a hands-on learning opportunity and getting the renewable energy system set up.

A unique and popular event is the SolarFest theater-in-the-woods production. This year’s play, written by SolarFest president Melody Squier, incorporates themes of local and sustainable living as it tells the tale of Tinmouth’s 250-year history. Directing the play is Melody’s son Wheaton Squier, who attended his first SolarFest event when he was only a child and has been helping out ever since.

Wheaton has watched the festival grow steadily over the years. In addition to relaying messages and equipment, parking cars and helping his father Marshall with event security, he has also been a previous member of the theater-in-the-woods cast. His first stint as director was at last year’s SolarFest. He says, “It was my first time directing, and I wasn’t sure what the experience would be like, but we had a great cast and lots of fun. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to this year — we have another great group of young actors and actresses.”

Rehearsals for the theater-in-the-woods begin about a month before the event, along with all the other necessary preparations for the festival. Volunteerism is vital, with more than 300 volunteers from all over the world assisting each year. The volunteers collaborate to transform Forget-Me-Not Farm from a working 80-acre therapeutic horse farm into a festival site — work that typically involves a lot of haying, mowing and weed-whacking, as well as posting of all the signage. Beyond the initial preparations, volunteers also run the festival and break it down when it is over.

“People come back year after year,” says Wheaton. “I’ve been involved as long as I can remember, and I think that being so close to a large, community and volunteer-run organization is a really important part of my life. It’s always nice to work together with lots of people and have the reward be this amazing festival.”

The volunteers typically include about 10 members of Volunteers for Peace, an organization that promotes international volunteerism as a means of community development, intercultural education and service learning. These volunteers usually show up around the July 4 weekend, about 10 to 14 days before the festival, and help transform Forget-Me-Not Farm to SolarFest. Typical projects include picking up fencing, building the stage, damming up the nearby river by hand to create a swimming hole and cleaning the barn.

For some volunteers this is their first visit to the United States, and these visitors often comment that their experience in Tinmouth defies many of their stereotypical beliefs about life in this country. Long-lasting friendships are formed as the work progresses, and many of the Volunteers for Peace return to help out in subsequent years.

The Squier family in turn has traveled to Spain, France, Canada, England, and Italy to visit some of their SolarFest friends. “The relationships we have built with the volunteers feel very much like family and going to their homes feels that way as well. It is always wonderful to travel, but to be hosted with such love is something much more,” says Wheaton.

Anyone interested in volunteering for SolarFest can sign up at the SolarFest Web site www.solarfest.org, which also has information about the full schedule of events for the weekend.

Nathaniel Gibson is a freelance writer who lives in Pawlet. He can be contacted via www.nathanielrgibson.com.

The article originally appeared in the Rutland Herald and the Times Argus:
July 3, 2011
Section: ENVIRONMENT

A New Kind of Farm Reaps Harvest Year-Round — Rutland Herald Article

Posted on May 29, 2011 by - Montpelier-Barre Times Argus, Rutland Herald

Ferrisburgh Solar Farm

An aerial view of the Ferrisburgh Solar Farm. Lake Champlain can be seen in the distance. The site resembles a map of Vermont, which was completely unplanned.

A New Kind of Farm Reaps Harvest Year-Round

Nathaniel Gibson
Correspondent

The future of clean energy in Vermont brightened considerably last fall when the largest solar project in the state to date came online. The Ferrisburgh Solar Farm, located along Route 7 in Addison County, consists of nearly 4,000 ground-mounted photovoltaic panels capable of generating up to one megawatt of electricity during sunny days – enough to power 170 Vermont homes. Site developers Brian Waxler and Ernie Pomerleau waited a year to obtain the necessary permits, but construction of the facility took only three months. Sustainability was a key design consideration. Because the solar farm is located on prime agricultural land, the installation was designed to be low impact. All of the installed structures are completely removable. Once the site ceases to produce solar power it can readily be returned to cultivate more conventional crops.

Unlike crops from more traditional Vermont farms, the power from the Ferrisburgh Solar Farm is harvested year round. Consequently snow cover was another important design consideration. The tilt angle of the solar panels was set at 30 degrees – enough to allow snow to slide off without casting shadows on adjacent panels. “The panels actually warm up due to their dark color and also from the sun naturally melting snow, like on a roof that faces south,” explains Pomerleau. Additionally, the panels have four feet of ground clearance to keep them free of any snow that slides off. This design was put to the test with record snowfalls over the winter. On days when the panels were covered with deep snow or caked with crusty snow or ice, they cleared off when the sun came out.

Waxler and Pomerleau hope that the project will spur further advances in solar technology by driving up the demand for photovoltaic panels. Such advances actually occurred even before the solar farm went online. Its original design called for the installation of 5,200 panels to generate the goal of one megawatt of power, but due to the rapid pace of technological development during design and construction, only 3,806 panels were actually required to meet that goal.

Despite such technological improvements, photovoltaic technology still requires government assistance to make it a worthwhile investment.

The solar farm benefited from federal tax incentives as well as two Vermont state programs. The first, Vermont’s Sustainably Priced Energy Enterprise Development (SPEED) Program, was established in 2005 to encourage the growth of renewable energy projects. It sets a minimum goal of generating 5 percent of Vermont’s 2005 energy demand or 294,283 megawatt-hours from renewable energy and an additional goal of providing enough renewable energy by 2017 to meet 20 percent of the state’s energy needs.

The second initiative, Vermont’s Standard Offer Program, was designed to promote the development of the renewable energy resources needed to meet the goals set forth by the SPEED Program. The Standard Offer Program aids renewable energy producers by guaranteeing long-term contracts and rates that allow them to recover their initial investment and operating costs. Through this program, Green Mountain Power of Colchester agreed to purchase the power generated by the solar farm.

Without such guaranteed rates, renewable energy producers would be unable to compete with energy from traditional, non-renewable sources – fossil fuels and nuclear power. But as the technology for manufacturing photovoltaic panels develops, solar installation projects on the scale of the Ferrisburgh facility will be able to succeed without government incentives. Pomerleau anticipates that such technological improvements will occur within the next 10 years.

Beyond providing power, the solar farm also offers unique educational opportunities for Vermont students. At neighboring Vergennes Union High School, science teacher Mark Powers has adapted the curriculum of his ninth-grade earth and space science class to take advantage of having a full-scale solar project next door. Powers appreciates how the developers reached out to him during facility construction and included him in the process. “Ernie and his whole crew have been awesome,” he says.

Now that the solar farm is completed, Powers is provided with a data feed that includes incoming solar radiation, power generation and several other real-time parameters. Students thus have a unique opportunity to study the relationship between weather conditions and solar power generation. “Weather is the only scientific news that the media reports every day,” Powers observes. “I’m trying to get kids to understand that weather is not just what you wear, but also has tie-ins with concepts such as renewable energy.”

Students collect daily weather data, including cloud cover and precipitation patterns, and look for correlations with the data from the solar farm. Students also make use of solar kits to simulate how varying the angle of solar panels and changing other variables can affect power output.

Powers has also been coordinating his work with the Satellites, Weather and Climate Program at the University of Vermont so that the techniques that he has formulated can be made available to other schools.

Visitors are welcome anytime at the solar farm’s visitor center and education kiosk. A public view Web site provides real-time visualization of measures such as power generation, weather conditions and environmental offsets, including the amount of CO2 emissions that the project has avoided.

The Ferrisburgh Solar Farm is not only a large-scale demonstration of solar power – it also is an example of how local residents can become involved in the process. Waxler and Pomerleau say that one of the most rewarding parts of the project has been the support that it has received from the community.

Nathaniel Gibson is a freelance writer who lives in Pawlet. He can be contacted at www.nathanielrgibson.com.

The article originally appeared in the Rutland Herald and the Times Argus:
May 29, 2011
Section: ENVIRONMENT