Green Lantern Solar Projects Help Vermont Ski Industry Hit Hard By Pandemic Restriction

A recent article on the VTDigger news website (A Brutal Year for VT’s Ski Industry…) highlights the financial blow that Vermont’s ski resorts felt this winter. Nonetheless, through Vermont’s robust net metering program, Green Lantern Solar has helped keep the economic engines running at various Vermont resorts including Sugarbush, Mount Snow, Smuggler’s Notch and Pico, and will do so for 20 years.

Green Lantern Solar has developed nearly 100 solar and solar+storage projects that annually produce approximately 75 Gigawatt-hours of renewable solar electricity and along with creating clean energy, and savings for customers, Green Lantern’s net metering also generate lease payments for array hosts in more than 65 Vermont towns, resulting in increased tax revenue.

Green Lantern Solar is a vertically integrated regional renewable energy development company with a particular emphasis on turn-key commercial solar solutions for municipal, education, healthcare and government entities. Green Lantern works with landowners to revitalize and re-develop low-value sites such as brownfields, landfills, quarries/pits/extraction sites and other challenging real estate.

“Green Lantern takes pride in supporting the iconic Vermont ski industry and will continue to do so for decades to come through our solar arrays,” said Scott Buckley, Vice President of Finance for Green Lantern Solar.   

“(Sugarbush Resort) is very excited to continue to support development of renewable energy generation in Vermont,” said Kevin Babic, Sugarbush’s CFO. “(These Green Lantern) projects helps us move our sustainability goals forward to continue greening up our operations.”

Net metering programs such as Vermont’s also provide valuable societal benefits. They can provide the economic framework for customers to participate directly in the green economy and the fight against climate change and allow for the increased deployment of distributed generation by leveraging outside private investment. In fact, a recent report (LINK) by Synapse Economics found that from 2014 to 2019, small-scale solar in New England saved utilities and all ratepayers – not just those participating directly – more than $1.1 billion.

Green Lantern’s projects also contribute to Vermont’s robust renewable energy sector, which according to state statistics, has generated thousands of quality, high-paying jobs across the state. For example, in Vermont, Green Lantern has remote offices in Waterbury, Addison County, Brattleboro and Waitsfield, and its design consultants are located in Burlington (TJ Boyle), Colchester (Krebs & Lansing), Huntington (Arrowwood Environmental), and Montpelier (Solar Power Engineering). Green Lantern’s contractors and their employees are located throughout Vermont as well, in Guilford (MT3 Unlimited), Orwell (Homestead Fence), South Burlington (E&S Electric), and Isle LaMotte (Daybreak Solarworks).