BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – It looks like Burlington will be relying on its wood-burning electric plant for years to come. A new report for the city electric department says there are no practical green alternatives to the McNeil Generating Station.
The Burlington Electric Department is looking at what the future of McNeil will look like.
Critics of McNeil have long argued that the facility isn’t truly green since burning biomass sends carbon into the atmosphere. The City Council asked BED to study whether there were cleaner alternatives to McNeil and whether the plant could operate with fewer carbon emissions.
Burlington currently gets about one-third of its energy from burning wood at the 50-megawatt McNeil plant.
Replacing that with green energy would not be practical, according to a consultant’s report.
For instance, in one scenario, Burlington would need to acquire an amount of solar generation equal to 20% of the total output currently available in all of Vermont. Wind output is equal to 80% of Vermont’s total and that would have to be paired with a 2,700% increase in the battery power currently available.
“It was talking about somewhere between 9X and 98X of the amount total installed in Vermont, not Burlington. So it speaks to the idea that we have a lot of scaling up to do in technologies, and certainly, we want to do our part,” said Darren Springer of the Burlington Electric Department.
While remaining dependent on McNeil, the city is exploring a way to reduce the plant’s environmental impact. Currently, BED owns 50% of McNeil, Green Mountain Power and the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority own the rest. BED wants to explore owning 100% of the plant. That would allow total energy generation to be scaled back, still meeting the city’s needs but reducing emissions output.
“This is actually a negotiation to take control of the site and the plant for Burlington, for Burlington Electric. So we can pursue efficiency, we can pursue innovation. We can achieve stack emission reductions. We can achieve environmental outcomes, and do so in a way that’s the most cost-effective as possible for our customers and community,” Springer said.
Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak campaigned on closing McNeil and in opposition to burning biomass. Now, she acknowledges that can’t happen in the short run, but she still hopes to explore alternative energy sources and alternative uses for the plant.
“We need to have a timeline that’s realistic for all the transition points that are also very important in terms of a just transition, the jobs involved, the ratepayers, of course, the affordability piece, and then, of course, understanding where our climate’s at. I mean, in two years from now, who knows what’s happening to the state of Vermont in terms of climate and the impact and what is available to us to pivot,” said Mulvaney-Stanak, P-Burlington.
Negotiations for Burlington to take full ownership of the plant are just beginning. All three partners have signed on to a letter of agreement to talk about the future. Those negotiations will continue until April.
The city’s long-talked-about plan to use excess steam from McNeil to provide heat to the UVM Medical Center is still under consideration. I asked if that plan would extend the need for McNeil, contrary to the goal of moving away from biomass. Burlington Electric gave a more veiled response saying they are still evaluating what that would look like in terms of new technologies coming out.