On Monday, the Vermont Bond Bank announced it had received $40 million for zero-interest funding from the federal government to help municipalities and school districts with low-interest loans for projects that address climate change.

And the Bond Bank chose to make the announcement at the new Charlotte Town Garage.

Around 40 people attended a ceremony that included U.S. Sen. Peter Welch; Sarah Waring, Vermont and New Hampshire director of rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture; representatives of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Rebecca Balint; Ted Brady, executive director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns; and members of the Charlotte Selectboard.

Michael Gaughan, the executive director of the Bond Bank, said the town garage was chosen as the site for the announcement because the financing for the solar panels on the garage roof was a pilot project for the type of financing the funding will provide.

The solar panels were paid for with a 2-percent loan. It was the first project funded by the Rural Energy Savings Program.

The officials were thrilled with the garage because, besides the solar panels on the roof, there is the geothermal heating. Many of those gathered commented on how comfortable the garage was with heat radiating up from the floor.

It was a nice event to show off how toasty Charlotte’s new garage felt on a chilly day when many attendees who came from out of town had woken up to the first snow of the season.

The town garage project was extremely helpful, Gaughan said, and he expressed his appreciation for selectboard chair Jim Faulkner facilitating the solar panels as a pilot program for the Bond Bank’s initiative for “green lending programs.”

“We did the solar here as kind of a pilot project to sort of figure out how everything worked and see what the impact would be,” Gaughan said.

American Rescue Plan Act funds, commonly referred to as ARPA dollars, has done energy assessments around the state. “So, we’re just going to be able to kind of follow that wake and do projects that were recommended in those reports,” he said, also singling out schools statewide where there are huge facility needs that could be funded if they incorporate sustainable energy efficiency, as the garage does.

The Vermont Bond Bank was created in 1969 and is the first Bond Bank in the country. It has been widely copied across the nation, Gaughan said.

The Charlotte Town Garage was not only one of the first recipients of a Rural Energy Savings Program loan, but one of the first in the nation.

While we have mostly moved beyond the questions about whether climate change is real, Sen. Welch said, “There is still an immense amount of apprehension about what is the cost of implementing climate change remediation efforts.”

With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, he said, for the first time in the history of the country, there is a major financial commitment and major tax incentives to take steps to cut down on the use of fossil fuels, save money and reduce carbon emissions.

The best decisions about how to allocate that loan money are going to be made locally, such as in Charlotte, Welch said. “We are absolutely committed to making renewable energy not just cleaner, but a cleaner and an affordable, available option for working families.”

Waring echoed the gratitude already expressed for Charlotte’s participation in the initiative, saying, “This feels like the beginning of something that we’re going to be doing more and more, with the capital being put to work across many towns in our state.”

Brady began his remarks by quoting the catchphrase from the TV show “The A-Team”: “I love it when a plan comes together.”

He said it had taken about 50 years, but a plan has finally come together with the building of the town garage and the initiating of the Rural Energy Savings Program.

“Here we are, for the first time in decades, a federal, state and local in a partnership that’s going to end up in more projects like the ones you’re sitting in today,” Brady said. “And, oh, by the way, it doesn’t just save money, as everybody said; it also reduces our climate emissions. So, congratulations to Charlotte for this incredible building.”

Faulkner started his remarks by praising the efforts of the town’s energy commission in advocating for the garage to be constructed as a net-zero energy building.

“We have an energy commission that has been pushing as hard as they possibly can,” he said.

The solar power on the town garage produces enough electricity for the garage, the town hall, the library, the senior center and 83 percent of the electricity used by the fire and rescue building, Faulkner said. In about eight years the loan for the solar panels should be paid, and then it will just cost Charlotte for delivery fees which should be $50.

Story Written by Scooter MacMillan, The Charlotte News

Story Link: https://www.charlottenewsvt.org/2024/10/31/state-officials-tout-innovative-garage-solar-power-funding/