📸: Hope Rogers
GMP Launches Vision to Have 100% Renewable Energy by 2030
Ambitious Goal Includes Having 100% Carbon Free Energy by 2025 and Boosting Local Energy Generation and Battery Storage to Better Serve Vermonters
13 April 2019
COLCHESTER, Vt. – Green Mountain Power announced an ambitious energy vision to have a 100% carbon free energy supply by 2025 and 100% renewable energy by 2030. The move, meant to meet and then quickly exceed customer expectations, was announced during the GMP Earth Day Every Day Fair in South Burlington, Vermont, and is among the most aggressive carbon targets for a utility of GMP’s size in the country.
“There is so much we can accomplish together in Vermont to cut carbon, and at the same time increase reliability for customers in the face of increasingly frequent and severe storms. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report makes clear, we have to act now, and take bold steps to cut carbon,” said Mary Powell, President and CEO of GMP. “The report issued in October of 2018 shows we have just 12 years to bend back the curve on carbon. Green Mountain Power is determined that through innovation, collaboration and grit, we can make remarkable strides and be the example of the change we want to see and deliver this energy future to benefit the customers we serve.”
This announcement builds on the energy vision GMP launched and delivered on in 2008 to innovate and move quickly to increase renewable energy resources. GMP’s current energy supply is 90% carbon free and more than 60% renewable. Its goal to achieve 100% carbon free energy by 2025 and 100% renewable by 2030 is focused on ramping up local distributed resources for generating and storing energy, ramping up purchases of carbon free wind and hydro energy, all while making sure customers receive reliable, cost-effective service.
GMP serves over 75% of the state of Vermont. More than 15,000 GMP customers are now being served by independent solar companies and over 3,000 commercial and industrial customers doing the same. GMP is also pioneering the use of stored energy to cut carbon and costs for all customers, including two solar storage installations, and three more being built this year. These projects are saving Vermonters money, by lowering peak energy costs, when power is the most expensive and dirty.
“GMP going 100% renewable by 2030 is wonderful news and a bold move,” said William Dodge, Chair of the Energy Committee in Essex, where one of GMP’s new solar storage installations is being built.“Vermont’s 90% renewable by 2050 goal is difficult to achieve without residents in Essex and elsewhere really putting our shoulder to the wheel when it comes to how we drive, heat our homes, and use electricity. But with GMP’s total commitment to carbon-neutral, clean electricity, Vermont is in a substantially better position to achieve its 90 by 2050 goal.”
Transportation and heating are the two biggest sources of carbon emissions in Vermont. With emissions still rising despite action by many across the state to bend the curve, and with the need for major transformation of Vermont’s transportation and home heating sectors, Green Mountain Power will be hosting a series of events to provide customers with more information about all of the existing technologies available to them to transition to a cleaner, affordable and resilient future.
“As a customer-obsessed energy company, we’ve delivered on our promise to help customers transition to a community-, home-, and business-based energy system that is greener and more resilient through energy storage options like home batteries, and options for charging electric vehicles,” Powell said. “Our partnerships with Efficiency Vermont and the Vermont renewable energy community have been, and will continue to be critical to making this happen for Vermonters. Our new vision is the next step.”
About Green Mountain Power
Green Mountain Power (GMP) serves approximately 265,000 residential and business customers in Vermont and is partnering with them to improve lives and transform communities. GMP is focused on a new way of doing business to meet the needs of customers with integrated energy services that help people use less energy and save money, while continuing to generate clean, cost-effective and reliable power in Vermont. GMP earned a spot on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in the World list three years in a row (2017, 2018, 2019). 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. J.D. Power’s 2018 rankings put GMP among top utilities for customer satisfaction.
Kristin Kelly, Green Mountain Power
(802) 318-0872
[email protected]