Vermont House lawmaker Charles Shaw, a Republican, introduced legislation on Jan. 22 that would require in-state solar facilities to sell their renewable energy credits to distribution utilities that will apply the credits toward meeting the state’s renewable energy standard, in a bid to balance the local impacts of siting solar installations. Alternatively, the facility would have to prove that it will avoid emissions within the New England region and provide other benefits, which outweigh any adverse impacts. (H 54)

Vermont’s renewable standard requires distribution utilities to meet 75 percent of their annual retail electric sales from renewable energy by 2032, with a 10 percent carve-out for distributed generation. Utilities procure renewable energy in the form of credits and acquire fossil fuel savings through energy transformation projects intended to reduce fossil fuel consumption.