Green Mountain Power and GlobalFoundries have partnered on a new solar project that will help power the technology company and provide data to the Sandia National Laboratory.
Green Mountain Power has developed the largest solar farm in Vermont, capable of generating more than 8 million kilowatt hours every year, enough to power more than 1,100 homes.
The solar facility will provide a portion of GlobalFoundries’ energy needs. Green Mountain Power CEO Mary Powell is excited to see the project go online. “We’re really thrilled with this project. Vermont’s largest solar project is being unveiled today at Vermont’s largest manufacturer. So this a 4.7 megawatt project here at GlobalFoundries. And one of the other most important things to know about it is it is also the most cost effective solar generation project in the state of Vermont, generating solar for our customers at about half the price of other solar projects in the state of Vermont.”
The solar farm is on about 50 of the 750 acres of land between Essex Junction and Williston owned by GlobalFoundries. The solar panels surround the Vermont Photovoltaic Regional Test Center, operated by the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratory. The federal lab is analyzing solar performance data in differing field conditions.
Green Mountain Power and GlobalFoundries plan to share any data on solar performance and effectiveness during harsh winters and changing climate. GlobalFoundries Vermont Senior Location Executive Janette Bombardier noted that it is the only solar testing lab in a cold climate. “The solar research test center is one of five facilities in the United States where manufacturers are allowed to bring in their technology and test it there. So all that information flows not only back to that manufacturer but back through Sandia Labs to do tests and studies. A huge piece of using solar is understanding and predicting when it’s going to be available. And by having this facility next to the solar RTC we’ll be able to leverage the weather station and the data systems that are there to really understand what’s going on and most importantly drive predictability of when it’s going to be available. So optimizing what you have for solar helps overall cost to the grid.”
Bombardier also noted that the solar partnership with GMP is unique among their U.S. plants. “GlobalFoundries has a facility in Singapore where they’re actually just beginning a solar agreement. In terms of the United States it’s kind of a different in New York in that Malta doesn’t, quite honestly, have the same land options. So this probably wouldn’t work for them. East Fishkill, we have talked to a number of potential solar developers down there. We haven’t quite found the right fit yet. And it’s a very different regulatory environment so it’s hard to compare whether we’ll be able to do those things in those locations. But we’re always looking for better energy, better environmental impact at all our locations. This one is definitely going to be unique at this level of megawatts.”
GlobalFoundries plans to use about 500 kilowatts of the net-metered power from the 21,474 panels. The remainder will be distributed to all GMP customers.
