Green Mountain Power (GMP) is adding grid-connected energy storage in six communities, to further accelerate its work to cut carbon and costs for customers, while strengthening the greater grid. GMP is working with battery companies and local developers to build cost-competitive energy storage projects in Vermont and purchase battery power to put back on the grid to save customers money. The storage projects selected will nearly double the current peak energy savings for GMP customers, and batteries will be in Georgia, Springfield, Bethel, Middlebury, Bristol, and Barre.
The new projects are adding 25 MW of energy storage and will be online in the next two years, joining GMP's existing fleet of more than 30 MW of residential and large-scale storage throughout Vermont. The projects deliver savings for customers by reducing peak energy costs and carbon emissions on high energy use days, avoiding the need to buy power from the regional grid.
"Energy storage is a critical aspect of the important grid transformation underway in Vermont," said GMP president and CEO Mari McClure. "Working in partnership with businesses, communities, and Vermonters, we are delivering more savings, more carbon reductions, and stronger local communities."
Already GMP's industry-leading battery programs saved customers $3 million a year for the last several years. These new batteries are projected to double those savings for customers, helping save an additional $3 million a year. Storage through GMP's programs gives the grid more flexibility which also adds resilience, strengthens the grid, and helps enable more local renewables and more clean electrification.
Through an agreement with WEG, an energy storage developer, GMP added 5MW of battery storage located in Barre last year. Another battery of 3MW will be added in Bristol next year through an agreement with Agilitas Energy of Massachusetts, with the other storage projects coming online in the next two years.
"It's so great to work with such a forward-thinking utility like Green Mountain Power," said Barrett Bilotta, President of Agilitas Energy. "By continuing to leverage the benefits of storage GMP is doing right by its customers, the grid, and the energy transition, all at the same time."
In addition to these grid scale projects, GMP is the first utility in the country to offer full, regulator-approved home battery programs to customers. Participants get discounted home energy storage for seamless backup power during storms, and they agree to share stored energy with all customers during energy peaks. GMP's residential programs include Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), Enphase, and Powerwall programs and GMP works with commercial customers on custom battery solutions for their businesses.
About Green Mountain Power
Green Mountain Power serves approximately 270,000 residential and business customers in Vermont with electricity that's 100% carbon free and 68% renewable, and GMP is partnering with them to improve lives and transform communities. GMP is providing solutions to cut carbon and is delivering electricity that is clean, affordable, and always on. GMP is the first utility in the world to get a B Corp certification, meeting rigorous social, environmental, accountability and transparency standards and committing to use business as a force for good. In 2022, GMP was named to TIME's list of the 100 Most Influential Companies. Fast Company named GMP one of the top five Most Innovative Companies in North America in 2022. GMP also earned a spot on Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in the World list in the energy sector four years in a row, and in 2021 the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) honored GMP as a nationwide leader in energy transformation.
