Vermont 2025-2026 Regular Session

Vermont House Bill H0278 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	BILL AS INTRODUCED H.278
2	2	2025 Page 1 of 5
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5	5	VT LEG #379347 v.1
6	6	H.278 1
7	7	Introduced by Representatives Masland of Thetford, Eastes of Guilford, 2
8	8	Mrowicki of Putney, and Olson of Starksboro 3
9	9	Referred to Committee on 4
10	10	Date: 5
11	11	Subject: Public service; energy; energy storage; community resilience 6
12	12	Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to direct the 7
13	13	State’s electric distribution utilities and Vermont Electric Power Company 8
14	14	(VELCO) to submit to the Department of Public Service a report, including an 9
15	15	electric system map, identifying where energy storage facilities and flexible 10
16	16	load management initiatives, and how much of each solution, would deliver the 11
17	17	greatest reliability, affordability, community resilience, and sustainability 12
18	18	benefits, which would then be used by the Clean Energy Development Board 13
19	19	to award grants to those locations. 14
20	20	An act relating to a plan on energy storage development 15
21	21	It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 16
22	22	Sec. 1. 30 V.S.A. § 8017 is added to read: 17
23	23	§ 8017. ENERGY RESILIENCY PLAN AND MAP 18
24	24	(a) On or before December 31, 2026, in order to develop a plan to help 19
25	25	develop energy storage assets and flexible load solutions and address repeated 20 BILL AS INTRODUCED H.278
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30	30	issues with the electric grid, Vermont’s distribution and transmission utilities 1
31	31	shall develop and submit a report, including a map, establishing where storage 2
32	32	assets and flexible load management initiatives, and how much of each 3
33	33	solution, have the greatest potential to mitigate, resolve, or forestall 4
34	34	distribution grid and transmission grid reliability, affordability, community 5
35	35	resiliency, and sustainability issues. This report shall utilize all relevant utility, 6
36	36	State, and regional system reliability data and projected load growth and 7
37	37	community health indicator data to identify where public and private fund 8
38	38	investments will deliver the greatest value. This report and map shall be used 9
39	39	as a guide for where best to site energy storage facilities and direct flexible 10
40	40	load initiatives and will estimate the type and amount of each energy solution. 11
41	41	(b) The report shall also: 12
42	42	(1) provide a reasonable cost-benefit analysis that presents a general 13
43	43	quantification of the value of the return on the dollars invested in energy 14
44	44	storage assets and flexible load management initiatives, including benefits of 15
45	45	responsible investments and associated returns, financial and nonfinancial, to 16
46	46	ratepayers from the provision of services, including energy price arbitrage, 17
47	47	capacity, ancillary services, and transmission and distribution asset deferral or 18
48	48	substitution; 19
49	49	(2) direct long-term investment returns to ratepayers that deploy energy 20
50	50	storage systems and leverage flexible load management capabilities; 21 BILL AS INTRODUCED H.278
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55	55	(3) improve the ability to integrate renewable resources at the local, 1
56	56	State, and regional level; 2
57	57	(4) improve reliability and power quality; 3
58	58	(5) estimate the effect on retail electric rates over the life of a given 4
59	59	energy storage system compared to the effect on retail electric rates using a 5
60	60	nonenergy storage system alternative over the life of the nonenergy storage 6
61	61	system alternative; 7
62	62	(6) identify utility service territories or communities or buildings where 8
63	63	adding energy storage assets would provide a major enhanced reliability 9
64	64	benefit, including helping to keep a hospital, community center, warming 10
65	65	shelter, emergency response facility, or other key building or buildings online 11
66	66	during an outage; 12
67	67	(7) identify areas with significant existing grid constraints for 13
68	68	electrification and for distribution generation; 14
69	69	(8) estimate reduced greenhouse gas emissions; and 15
70	70	(9) estimate economic development benefits. 16
71	71	(c) The Department shall collaborate, as necessary, in the development of 17
72	72	the plan with electric and efficiency utilities, Vermont Electric Power 18
73	73	Company (VELCO), regional planning commissions, and energy and 19
74	74	environmental organizations and shall integrate the report and map findings 20 BILL AS INTRODUCED H.278
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79	79	into existing required energy plans and present it to the Climate Council for 1
80	80	inclusion in the Climate Action Plan. 2
81	81	(d) The Department may require stakeholders to sign confidentiality 3
82	82	agreements to address any confidential and proprietary information; however, 4
83	83	the map shall be made available to relevant stakeholders involved in energy 5
84	84	storage and flexible load management. 6
85	85	(e) The Department shall submit the report and map to the Public Utility 7
86	86	Commission and, to the degree that energy security allows, the General 8
87	87	Assembly, identifying those areas with energy storage assets and flexible load 9
88	88	management initiatives, including how much of each type of resource could 10
89	89	deliver the greatest reliability, affordability, community resiliency, and 11
90	90	sustainability value, including the associated quantitative and qualitative 12
91	91	benefits with different investment and deployment scenarios. 13
92	92	(f) The plan shall be updated biennially. Future revisions of the plan shall 14
93	93	include review of the Municipal Energy Resilience Program assessment, 15
94	94	VELCO’s Long-Range Transmission Plan, the environmental justice mapping 16
95	95	tool, distribution utility integrated resource plans, efficiency utility demand 17
96	96	response plans, and other relevant data. 18
97	97	(g) The Clean Energy Development Board shall use the energy resiliency 19
98	98	plan as a guide to award grants for the development of energy storage facilities 20
99	99	in the identified locations. 21 BILL AS INTRODUCED H.278
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104	104	Sec. 2. 30 V.S.A. § 8015 is amended to read: 1
105	105	§ 8015. VERMONT CLEAN ENERGY DEVELOPMENT FUND 2
106	106	* * * 3
107	107	(e) Management of Fund. 4
108	108	* * * 5
109	109	(3) There is created the Clean Energy Development Board, which shall 6
110	110	consist of seven persons appointed in accordance with subdivision (4) of this 7
111	111	subsection. 8
112	112	* * * 9
113	113	(C) The Board shall utilize the report developed under section 8017 10
114	114	of this title. 11
115	115	* * * 12
116	116	Sec. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 13
117	117	This act shall take effect on passage. 14