Encore to build 29,000 solar panels on 30-acre Middlebury parcel

MIDDLEBURY | Encore Renewable Energy will start the construction of a large solar array in Middlebury to be completed sometime during 2022. Located about two miles from the Middlebury College campus, on 30 acres of college-owned land off South Street Extension, the project will include 29,000 panels mounted on single-axis trackers that will follow the sun east to west over the course of the day. U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, joined representatives from Middlebury College, Encore, Green Mountain Power (GMP), the state of Vermont, and the town of Middlebury Oct. 12 to break ground on the new five-megawatt solar project in Middlebury that will provide the college with about 30 percent of its total electricity usage. The agreement between Encore, GMP, and Middlebury will provide the college with local, cost-effective, renewable energy and allow Middlebury to retain and retire the renewable energy credits from the system. The innovative arrangement eliminates any cost shift to the utility's customers. After a blessing from Don Stevens, chief of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki Nation, the groundbreaking event included key comments from Leahy. "For many years, along with other Vermont leaders, I have been spotlighting the economic benefits to come with going 'all-in' on investments in clean energy and green infrastructure," Leahy said. "As we grapple with the consequences of the climate crisis, it is clear these are not just economic benefits. It is also an economic imperative. I am so proud to see that urgency being demonstrated so clearly right here in Middlebury. I continue to be impressed by the Middlebury College commitment to leading by example in its investments in renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions." The collaborative partnership will help the college reach its climate goals while expanding local, renewable energy production in Vermont. Middlebury College will buy 100 percent of the electricity generated at the site as part of its Energy 2028 initiative, which calls for the college's use of 100 percent renewable energy by 2028. The college meets the other 70 percent of its electricity needs with electricity generated by its biomass plant, other local solar energy production sites, and power from GMP's grid, which is 100 percent carbon-free and 68 percent renewable, on the way to becoming 100 percent renewable by 2030.

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Encore to build 29,000 solar panels on 30-acre Middlebury parcel

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