Vermont utility has a faster, cheaper way to protect consumers against outages during extreme weather

Green Mountain Power proposed installing batteries like this
Tesla battery. (Photo by Caleb Kenna, The New York Times)

In the ongoing balancing act between electrical grids and extreme weather preparation, Vermont's Green Mountain Power is asking state regulators to "let it buy batteries it will install at customers' homes, saying doing so will be cheaper than putting up more power lines," reports Ivan Penn of The New York Times. "The plan is a big departure from how U.S. utilities normally do business. Most make money by building and operating power lines that deliver electricity from natural gas power plants or wind and solar farms to homes and businesses. Green Mountain — a relatively small utility serving 270,000 homes and businesses — would still use that infrastructure but build less by investing in television-size batteries that homeowners usually buy on their own."

This past year, severe storms, flooding and power outages have pushed Green Mountain to change its business model in favor of a cheaper, quicker solution. "As the company ran the numbers, it realized that paying recovery costs and building more power lines to improve its system would cost a lot more and take a lot longer than equipping homes with batteries," Penn writes. "Green Mountain's plan builds on a program it has run since 2015 to lease Tesla home batteries to customers. Its filing asks the Vermont Public Utility Commission to authorize it to initially spend $280 million to strengthen its grid and buy batteries, which will come from various manufacturers."

Green Mountain's chief executive, Mari McClure, told Penn, "We don't want the power to be off for our customers ever. People's lives are on the line. That is ultimately at the heart of why we're doing what we're trying to do." The company will still control the batteries "allowing it to program them to soak up energy when wind turbines and solar panels were producing a lot of it. Then, when demand peaked on a hot summer day, say, the batteries could release electricity."

Part of the problem with big energy projects is how long they take to complete. Penn reports, "Green Mountain's proposal seems to recognize that reality, said Leah Stokes, an associate professor of environmental politics at the University of California. Stokes told Penn: "It really is the model, especially if you're worried about power outages. It really could become the example for the rest of the country."