Vermont passes law for faster, cheaper residential solar

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed off on a new law to allow ground-mounted net-metered solar arrays under 25 kW capacity to qualify for Vermont’s expedited registration process.

Up until now, a 2014 law required ground-mount solar arrays to use the same application process as larger 150 kW projects.

Solar panel efficiency has come a long way since then. Just five years ago, the typical quote on EnergySage was for 340 W, and nearly all were for less than 400 W. By the first half of 2024, however, 97% of quotes were for solar panels rated at at least 400 W.

By upping the threshold for ground-mount home solar panels, the bill’s proponents said it will become easier and faster for residents to go solar.

Peter Sterling, executive director of Renewable Energy Vermont gave a presentation during the bill’s House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee Meeting and said Vermont’s non-expedited application process takes a minimum of 4 months, which include a 45-day advance notice to abutters, followed by a mandatory 30-day review. However, applicants using the expedited process are able to skip many of these steps. The expedited process rarely takes more than 30 days, Sterling said.

Notably, according to Sterling, the expedited registration process does not require additional costs, which are typically between $5,000 and $2,000 for the standard application process. Around 22,000 homes and businesses in Vermont currently have net metering, he said.

According to Renewable Energy Vermont, a clean-energy trade association, this “lengthy application process adds so much time, uncertainty and money to projects greater than 15 kW that almost no homeowner undertakes it.” Only 11 certificate of public good applications have been filled since 2020 for 15 kWac to 25 kWac projects, according to Renewable Energy Vermont.

The act tweaks the minimum setback requirements to apply 40-foot setbacks to facilities with more than 25 kW capacity instead of 15 kW (and for facilities 150 kW or less, which remains unchanged). The act also directs the Public Utilities Commission to consult with stakeholders to amend the definition of “plant” to allow and recommend an amended definition of “plant” in 30 V.S.A. § 8002, the state’s statute for renewable energy programs.

The legislation is among the only energy bills to make it to the governor’s desk this session. (Though legislators introduced several solar bills this session, none made it very far.)

In a far less dramatic legislative session that last year, the bill was among one of the only energy bills to make it to the governor’s desk this session. (Though legislators introduced several solar bills this session, some supportive of solar and others unsupportive, none made it very far.) Last year, Gov. Scott, who has vetoed more bills than any governor in Vermont’s history, tried to block H 289, which requires Vermont’s utilities to acquire 100% renewable energy by 2035 and eliminates the state’s informal community solar program (“offsite net metering,”). Ultimately, the General Assembly was successful, and overrode the governor’s veto with a 2/3 majority vote in both chambers.

However, H 289 requires an analysis of a replacement program to its former offsite net-metering program. Lawmakers introduced a possible anecdote this session, which would have carved out part of the state’s Standard Offer program for a community solar program, but the bill failed to make much progress.

Vermont has been reducing the amount its residential solar owners receive for sending excess power back to the grid for years. The state’s Public Utility Commission revises its net metering rates every two years, and has continuously decreased the rates since the program’s inception in 2011. In 2022, solar customers were paid roughly 80% of what the utility charges their neighbor for using their exported electricity. Vermont’s community solar projects were built under the state’s net-metering program up until this year.

Vermont’s governor also issued an executive order May 13 to pause the state’s electric vehicle sale mandate, which would have required dealers to sell an increasing percentage of electric vehicles starting with 2026 models, gradually phasing out the sale of new gas-powered passenger cars until an ultimate ban by 2035.

Read about other solar-related bills state lawmakers are debating this legislative session here.

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