Vermont lays out plan for 20 percent solar generation in-state by 2025

Vermont wants to show other states how it is done when it comes to becoming an advanced solar economy — one in which solar power provides at least 20 percent of total electricity use by 2025.

The goal sounds crazy ambitious but over the last 2 years the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC), with the Department of Public Service and the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), has been coordinating and facilitating a stakeholder process to develop a solar plan for Vermont. This plan, known as the Vermont Solar Pathways, lays out how solar can help meet our environmental, energy, and economic goals. This brochure outlines the key findings from the Vermont Solar Pathways report.

These groups report that Vermont has enough land and sunlight to meet 20 percent of electricity needs with solar by 2025. It would only require approximately 0.1% of Vermont’s land area to meet this goal.

Generating enough solar power to provide 20% of electricity will require an estimated 1,000 MW (1 gigawatt) of solar capacity, which is over 5 times the amount of solar installed in Vermont at the end of 2016.

Even longer term, Vermont’s goal is to obtain 90 percent of total energy supply from renewable sources by 2050, as outlined in the state’s Comprehensive Energy Plan (CEP).

Here’s a report on how these goals can be attained.

— Solar Builder magazine

[source: http://solarbuildermag.com/news/vermont-lays-out-plan-for-20-percent-solar-generation-in-state-by-2025/]