Friday, May 9
BRATTLEBORO -- Two southern Vermont renewable energy projects got a boost Wednesday after the state Department of Public Service announced its most recent release of grant funding.

ReNew Building, Materials & Salvage, Inc., and Health Care & Rehabilitation Service of Southeastern Vermont were both awarded the money as part of the $2.28 million that was given out to businesses and nonprofits across the state.

The grant money comes from the Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund, which was set up by the Legislature in 2005 as part of Entergy Vermont Yankee's request to hold its waste in dry cask storage units on the company's property in Vernon.

"Vermont firms are doing some really interesting and novel work, and we are especially gratified to see the level of creativity brought to financing these efforts," said Clean Energy Development Fund investment committee chairman Lawrence Miller in a press release. "The committee was excited to find that the range and quality of applications was even stronger than our first round."

HCRS was included in the large scale systems portion of the grant awards, and received about $158,000 for its proposed solar photovoltaic system

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at the organization's new building in Springfield.

The mental health agency moved into its new 30,000 square foot building last year. The facility has won three awards for its green technology and the building is wired and set up to accept the solar panels.

HCRS CEO Judith Hayward said the organization did not have the money for the solar panels when the new structure was being built. The grant money will fund about half the purchase and installation of the panels, and Hayward said HCRS is doing a fund raising campaign to raise the rest.

"We are delighted to receive this grant," Hayward said after the Department of Public Service announced the latest round of grant recipients. "This is very important to us and it will help us complete what we are trying to do. We would not be able to do it without this money."

The proposed solar electric panels will produce about 48,000 kilowatt hours of energy annually, and are expected to power the building for up to 25 years.

The Clean Energy Development Fund was set up to increase the development and deployment of combined heat and power technologies and renewable energy generation.

Grants are distributed for planning, and for large and small-scale projects.

This year 29 proposals were submitted, seeking $3.2 million, and 18 grants were awarded through the competitive process.

ReNew Building, Materials & Salvage, Inc. won $21,400 to fund a feasibility study for a proposed combined heat and power system that creates energy from burning wood.

ReNew is a nonprofit organization that recovers building materials and resells it. Executive Director Erich Kruger said he produces a large amount of waste wood that he wants to convert into power.

The store and warehouse is in the process of expanding into a larger space near its current outlet of about 7,000 square foot on Town Crier Drive. Krueger said the grant money will be used to investigate whether a combined heat and power energy system would work at the new site.

Combined heat and power technology is relatively new to America and Krueger said he hopes to be the first in the region to produce electricity with wood scraps.

"The idea is that we can use our own waste to not only heat the building but generate electricity," he said. "This money will be used for a planning study and if it is feasible I hope to apply for larger grant. It is our intention that the new building be as self sufficient as possible."

Howard Weiss-Tisman can be reached at hwtisman@reform-er.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 279.