POWER June 2022 - 5
SPEAKING OF POWER
Vermont and ISO-New England
Provide an Interesting Renewable
Energy Transition Case Study
Aaron Larson
V
ermont doesn't get a lot of attention
outside of Bernie Sanders, but
the state's power system is worth
taking a look at as it has undergone a
notable shift toward renewable energy.
About 80% of Vermont's power comes
from renewable energy. Almost no fossil-fueled
plants operate in the state, other
than a handful of peaker units, many
of which are on the short-list for closure.
Vermont is part of the ISO-New England
market. Vermont doesn't have a
huge load. Interestingly, both the summer
and winter peaks are about 1,000
MW. In the summer, the peak typically
hits after dark. Vermont is the only state
in ISO-New England's footprint in which
that is currently happening, but the peak
time trend is creeping later into the day
in all six states served by the market.
Distributed Energy Proliferates
The reason is that rooftop solar has become
widespread in the region. According
to ISO-New England, Vermont had
434.24 MW of installed solar capacity at
the end of 2021. For context, remember,
that's roughly 43% of the state's peak load
demand, and it's all distributed generation.
" Almost every school in the state of
Vermont has solar on it, " Chris Root, COO
for Vermont Electric Power Co. in Rutland,
Vermont, said during a presentation at
the IEEE PES T&D Conference & Exposition,
held in New Orleans, Louisiana, April
25-28. " But, we don't have large solar.
This isn't like Arizona, where you go in the
desert and put 300 MW. The largest single
photovoltaic plant in Vermont is only
20 megawatts. ... We're talking about distributed
resources-this is the model of
distributed resources. They're on houses.
They're on fields. They're on businesses.
But, it is very distributed, mostly on distribution
and sub-transmission systems. "
As rooftop panels produce electricity
during daylight hours, they effectively
keep the generation needed from utilities
less than would otherwise be the case.
Then, when the sun goes down, power
June 2022 | POWER
companies have to make up for the lost
generation. We've all heard about California's
" Duck Curve, " but Vermont has a
Duck Curve of its own.
Energy storage is seen as a vital component
in managing the swings. Green
Mountain Power (GMP), which serves approximately
270,000 residential and business
customers in Vermont, implemented
a " Home Energy Storage " program that
has reportedly been very successful. The
program has three options: Bring Your
Own Device (BYOD), Enphase IQ Battery,
and Tesla Powerwall.
Without getting into all of the details,
GMP says customers can get up to
$10,500 toward a home battery purchase
using the BYOD option, or they can lease
Enphase IQ or Tesla Powerwall battery
systems on a 10-year plan for $65 and $55
a month, respectively. Customers can
save money by paying the full lease upfront
for $6,500 and $5,500, respectively.
To participate in the program, GMP
requires customers " to share access to
the batteries to cut power demand during
expensive energy peaks when people
are using a lot of energy, which helps
lower costs for all. " The company said its
growing network of shared stored energy
reduced about $3 million in costs for
all customers in 2021 by cutting power
demand during energy peaks.
Root said there are a couple of big
benefits pocketed by cutting peak load
demand. First, the monthly bill for the
state's regional transmission is based
on the peak for the month, so keeping it
low keeps the bill down. Second, the annual
capacity charge that must be paid is
based on its " key quote, " and cutting peak
load also keeps that as low as possible.
Record-Setting Low Demand
On May 1, consumer demand for electricity
from the bulk power grid in ISO-New
England dropped to 7,580 MW during the
afternoon hours-the lowest mark observed
by system operators in the ISO's
history. It was a Sunday, which typically
sees lower demand than other days of
www.powermag.com
the week, and afternoon temperatures
were in the 50s and 60s across New
England, which meant heating and cooling
systems didn't have to work terribly
hard, but sunny skies were the clincher.
ISO-New England estimated production
from behind-the-meter solar resources
was more than 4,000 MW of electricity
during this period, tempering demand on
the bulk power grid enormously.
While May 1 set a new a record, it
was really just the continuation of a trend
seen all across New England. ISO-NEW
England said it has " already seen nearly
as many so-called 'duck curve' days, during
which demand from the bulk power
system is at its lowest in the afternoon
hours and not overnight, in 2022 as in all
previous years combined. "
" New England's power system is
changing right in front of our eyes, "
Vamsi Chadalavada, ISO-New England's
COO, said in a statement. " While these
changes haven't happened overnight, a
day like May 1 is a good reminder of the
progress New England has made in its
transition to the future grid. "
Still, Root doesn't see Vermont being
powered from 100% renewable energy
anytime soon. He noted that during the
winter, there are typically five days when
the state gets zero generation from wind
and solar. Batteries can fill gaps overnight,
and maybe with enough installations
and performance improvements in
the future, they can fill longer gaps, but
they're unlikely to reach five-day stretches
without enormous overbuild.
" The reality is we're going to have carbon-based
fuels for a while, " Root said.
" If we can use natural gas for a while
and transition away from coal, that's
okay. It's much better than the alternative. "
He was also a strong advocate
for nuclear power, saying, " If you're going
to really decarbonize, those nuclear
plants are important. They need to stop
shutting them down; you need to be
building new ones eventually. " ■
-Aaron Larson is POWER's
executive editor.
5
http://www.powermag.com
POWER June 2022
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER June 2022
POWER June 2022 - Intro
POWER June 2022 - Cover1
POWER June 2022 - Cover2
POWER June 2022 - 1
POWER June 2022 - 2
POWER June 2022 - 3
POWER June 2022 - 4
POWER June 2022 - 5
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POWER June 2022 - 44
POWER June 2022 - Cover3
POWER June 2022 - Cover4
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