(Host) A South Burlington company plans to build a pilot project to demonstrate how wind and solar projects can help power the electrical grid even when it’s dark, or the wind is calm.
VPR’s Ross Sneyd reports.
(Sneyd) Dynapower builds "energy storage" systems.
You’d recognize the Dynapower factory if you ever drive Interstate 89 in the Burlington area. It’s the building that has a big wind turbine sitting next to it.
Soon, a second turbine will be built and the factory’s roof will be covered with solar panels.
Aaron Pollak explains the plans.
(Pollak) "The idea is that we’ll take the energy that’s generated from the wind turbine or the solar panels as 483 phase electricity, convert it into DC, store it in a battery, take it from the battery, put it back on the grid when it’s needed, say when the wind turbine’s not turning or the sun’s not shining."
(Sneyd) Dynapower’s system is a $2.5 million investment.
The company believes there’s a big market for its technology. Right now, only about 5 percent of renewable energy projects have a way to store their electricity so it’s available when it’s needed.
There have been a lot of incentives to build new wind or solar projects. So Pollak says there will be demand.
(Pollak) "As the renewable source plays a higher generation component in the actual infrastructure it’s more of a requirement to have the storage medium there, as well."
(Sneyd) Vermont’s renewable energy fund is helping to pay for the Dynapower project through a grant and a loan.
The money came from last year’s federal stimulus bill. In all 15 projects around the state won grants and loans.
They range from biomass projects at Goddard College in Plainfield and Landmark College in Putney, to digesters that convert cow manure into electricity.
Like one at Kane’s Scenic River Farm in Sheldon. Kane’s will use $150,000 to help build the system. Nancy Kane says it will help ensure the future of her family’s operation.
(Kane) "We have young grandchildren that we hope to one day go into the family farm. Our opportunity for our farm to diversify will give us the future in an ever-changing world of agriculture. So our hopes of future generations may be possible."
(Sneyd) If all the 15 projects that won funding are built as proposed, they represent nearly a half-billion dollars in investment in the state’s economy.
For VPR News, I’m Ross Sneyd.