Seeks to make industrial solar power to meet demand for ‘renewable energy credits’ among big businesses

“There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places” Wendell Berry

by Alison Despathy

Vermont’s renewable energy standards allow big corporate carbon emitters to appear carbon-free by buying ‘renewable energy credits’ from Vermont renewable power producers – a practice leading to economic devastation in the small Bennington County town of Shaftsbury.

Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) represent one MW hour of electricity generated and delivered to the grid from a renewable energy source. RECs are a tradeable commodity and with the crank towards renewable energy forced upon society via government mandates and subsidies, both the demand for and cost of RECs has skyrocketed.

Companies and utilities purchase RECs in order to claim renewable energy in their portfolios. Starbucks, Johnson and Johnson, Staples, FedEx, Whole Foods Markets; many participate in this practice to look good on paper when it comes to their energy portfolio. RECs are still in their early developmental stage but are clearly positioning to become an increasingly hot commodity for brokers.

With abundant opportunity for making money with the sale of RECs, there is a rapid increase in industrial scale solar farms across the country and around the world as demand rises and the worth of RECs escalates.

The reality of artificially induced demands for RECs comes with high level destruction of the environment as space is needed for renewable energy siting. Healthy ecosystems, biological diversity and agricultural land are in peril as this drive intensifies. This creates a highly controversial situation as those leading this destructive charge attempt to justify their actions of ecological devastation with the promise of clean energy and in the name of climate change.

It seems antithetical because it is. ‘Destroy the earth to save it’ is the environmental industry and energy developer’s mantra, Fortunately people are recognizing this environmental injustice. The town of Shaftsbury is experiencing this REC frenzy firsthand and its accompanying risk of massive ecological devastation.

A commodities broker from Connecticut purchased almost 200 acres and intends to build a 20 megawatt industrial solar farm on 85 acres. If this project is approved by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), Shaftsbury faces annihilation of 104 total acres of rich pasture, ecologically complex forests and high level biodiversity. This decimation includes 45 acres of clear cut forest.

Shaftsbury Solar is owned by Freepoint Solar, a subsidiary of Freepoint Commodities, a Connecticut -based energy investment company. Freepoint Solar does not currently have a contract for the power generated and no statements have been made about the use of the RECs produced if this project is approved.

In response, the Stop Shaftsbury Solar website was developed to raise awareness about the widespread deleterious effects of this project. The website defines ecocide as “destruction of the natural environment by deliberate human action.”

Website visitors are urged to “Protect our neighbors and town from a Connecticut trading company building one of the largest solar fields in Vermont across 87 football fields worth of prime agricultural land in Shaftsbury.” A warning and wake up call on the site informs residents that their “Town’s food security, farmland, wildlife, home values, views, roads, businesses, watershed and more are all threatened for the sake of out of state power and profits.”

Ramping up their opposition, –Serene Shaftsbury to Industrial Solar?— was launched to further challenge this massive industrial solar project, educate Vermonters and prevent the utter destruction of this environmentally healthy parcel of land.

Responding to a request for comment on the Shaftsbury Solar proposal, Annette Smith, Executive Director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment, “Points to this project as the best example of how not to do appropriate solar development in Vermont.”

The PUC will decide the fate of the project and this process is currently underway. Local opponents to this industrial scale solar project have gathered comprehensive testimony to ensure a substantial, in-depth and accurate account of what is at stake if this project moves forward. As stewards, they have covered the bases for the PUC to understand the devastating reality of this project

As a local professional artist, Stella Ehrich’s testimony in opposition to Shaftsbury Solar reads as powerful as the most beautiful landscape painting of Vermont you have seen. Prepare to have your breath taken away as she soulfully describes what most Vermonters feel and see in this stunning landscape we are fortunate to call home.

‘The undulations of the hillsides and valleys with their fields and meadows, forests and tree lines have their own unique rhythms following the contours of the ground beneath them. These lines in the landscape speak of the actual shape of the hillsides themselves, coloring the mountains with greens and all of the varying colors of the season.”

She describes the life we share with our environments, “The landscape moves and breathes and allows us to breathe more deeply and completely because we are alive within the beauty of it.”

Ehrich suggests that, “The areas where we do have strip malls and such, are where the solar displays should be housed. There are tons of open spaces above the parking lots and on top of those big box buildings which are made of the same monochromatic geometric; metallic shapes as the solar panels. These solar panel fields belong with the same type of construction that they embody, not in the middle of our natural landscapes. They should not be replacing our farmland or our fields and forests. They are not life-giving as are our trees, they are not breathing oxygen into our air, they certainly are not beautiful to paint.”

Additional testimony presented to the PUC by local Northeast scientists includes extensive wildlife, botanical and pollinator reports based on the existing intact ecosystems. They have mapped the loss of habitats, diversity, plant species, and wildlife that would occur in this proposed project area if Shaftsbury Solar is approved.

As a neighbor intervenor to this project, Jesse McDougall shared his family’s long history and connection to this land. He stated, “the views of the agrarian landscape we cherish and work to protect would be forever changed and scarred by this out of place, industrial energy facility.” He cites the Shaftsbury Town Plan Policy 5.1.3, to “Recognize that our near pristine rural landscape is one of our most valuable assets and a key ingredient in a high quality of life.”

In his testimony, McDougall shared the Bennington Banner’s report following a selectboard meeting in which, “A resolution to oppose this project was passed resoundingly by the people of Shaftsbury.”

Industrial solar farms are antithetical to Vermont and everything Vermont stands for- Out of state commodities investors with an eye on profit are the worst kind of developers. Instead of bringing positive impact to our communities, this project threatens high level environmental destruction, places local economies at risk and stirs the heartfelt rage of Vermonters who are determined to protect their local communities and wild spaces. This is their role as stewards and they are rising to the occasion.

Author’s Note-If the newly revised Renewable Energy Standard (H.289) becomes law, renewable energy projects of this scale will escalate because of the requirement to reach 20% of in-state renewable energy production by 2035. This degree of ecological harm will place Vermont’s environment, intact ecosystems, and agricultural lands at risk as environmental industry developers seek to make a profit, get in on the RECs game and take advantage of Vermont’s wild spaces and precious environments. 

Peter Sterling of Renewable Energy Vermont lobbied hard for this bill and had a heavy hand in its creation. REV’s renewable energy members are the winners in this deal and Vermonters are the losers who will pay more for electric rates, purchase these costly RECs and watch their towns become overrun with ecologically devastating renewable energy projects.

The author is a clinical nutritionist in St. Johnsbury.