Concentration of CO2 in the Atmosphere

Power Guru Launches Community Solar for Bennington

Vermont Mill Properties’ Community Solar will host a 150-kilowatt array that will produce nearly 200,000kWhs in the first year. (Courtesy image)

George Harvey

Power Guru is working on a project in Bennington, Vermont that’s worth getting excited about. The long-awaited Vermont Mill Properties Community Solar Project, with actual installation set to begin this June, coincides with the anniversary edition of Green Energy Times.

Development work for the Vermont Mill Properties Solar Project began three years ago and as anyone who follows 100+kW projects with multiple subscribers and owners quickly learns, there can be a long time between starting development and actually arriving at the site with equipment and tools. Now, after the preliminary work has been completed, development is entering its final phase.

Vermont Mill Properties Community Solar will host a 150-kilowatt array that will produce nearly 200,000 kWhs in the first year. As a community solar project, the energy production is offered to all commercial, residential, and rental Green Mountain Power customers. Since GMP provides roughly three quarters of all of the electricity sold in Vermont, there are a lot of people who qualify to subscribe. Any GMP customer wishing to learn more, receive a quote, and subscribe should reach out directly to Power Guru.

Community solar offers the least carbon footprint option to power off of clean energy. Residential and commercial GMP customers who either cannot or do not wish to install solar on their properties make for great subscribers to a project like the Vermont Community Solar Project. One example of a ratepayer who can benefit from a community solar subscription is a tenant with a GMP account. Having no physical place to install the solar, a tenant can still get the benefit of having a solar system with a community solar subscription. However, for a large number of GMP customers, just knowing that their carbon footprint is as low as possible is enough reason to invest, and the other advantages of a locked-in low rate with GMP and a $.03/adder per kW are secondary.

The interest from potential subscribers at the Vermont Mill Properties has been significant enough that Power Guru is in development of a second array, Shadowbrook Farm. This array will be offered for business subscribers who wish to reduce their carbon emissions and save on energy costs.

The Vermont Mill Properties’ mill building is quite old and has a long history dating back to the end of the Civil War in 1865. Since it was built just as that war was ending, at the beginning of declining business, its builder lost money on it. The mill had a rather checkered history after that, with one rather long period of successful business operation. At one point, it had 800 workers, but it fell into disuse in 1938. In 1988 Jon Goodrich and Mace Company bought it, and it began a new and more profitable period. Goodrich recorded a brief video on the property that can be seen at www.bit.ly/VT-mill-history.

We are very pleased to note the following quote that came to us from Karen Jernigan, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Power Guru: “Power Guru would like to say thank you to the Green Energy Times for supporting our business through years. Thank you for sharing pertinent industry news that educates and encourages clean energy support, investment, and participation. As we continue to grow and expand our operations in Vermont, New York and Massachusetts, we look forward to reading and sharing our work with Green Energy Times readers.”

Please direct all inquiries to info@power-guru.com to learn more, www.power-guru.com.

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