Our Energy Portfolio

The table below shows the resources that provided BED’s energy supply in 2021.

BED Energy Supply, January-December 2021

Winter Peak MW	47.3
Summer Peak MW	64.3
Energy Use (MWH)	318,513
Resource	Fuel Type	Location	Capacity (MW)	Energy (MWH)
McNeil	Wood	Vermont	25.0	136,677
Hancock	Wind	Maine	13.5	32,180
Sheffield	Wind	Vermont	16.0	24,264
Georgia Mountain Community	Wind	Vermont	10.0	21,100
Hydro-Québec	Large Hydro	Quebec	n/a	52,560
NYPA	Large Hydro	New York	2.6	20,766
Winooski One	Small Hydro	Vermont	7.4	24,820
Great River Hydro	Small Hydro	Vermont	n/a	43,800
Burlington	Solar	Vermont	3.4	5,032
BED Gas Turbine	Oil	Vermont	22.0	375
Short Term Purchases Net of Short Term Sales	Various (system mix)	New England	n/a	0
ISO New England Exchange – Net	Various (system mix)	New England	n/a	-34,907
Total Gross Generation & Purchases				361,574

BED Fuel Types and Renewability

2021 Sources Prior to Renewable Attribute REC Sales and Purchases

BED sources the energy required to cover its annual sales plus an additional amount to account for electricity used by BED’s own facilities and the line losses incurred on the transmission and distribution systems (this accounts for an addition of approximately 3% above annual sales). Many generating resources are inherently variable, so the amount of production in any year will fluctuate. For CY2021, BED’s renewable resources provided over 100% of the total load served by BED. Because BED generated and purchased more renewable energy than was used by all of Burlington, there were no short-term energy purchases or net annual ISO-NE Exchange purchases in 2021. Excess energy was sold to the ISO-NE wholesale markets as non-renewable power (shown by the negative “ISO New England Exchange – Net” in the table above).

CY 2021 BED Fuel Types – Prior to REC Transactions

NOTE: BED has no contracts for resources fueled by Natural Gas, Nuclear, or Coal. 0.1% of generated energy comes from Oil used at the BED Gas Turbine (in excess of BED’s energy needs). The purchase profile exceeded sales by 13.5%. The above represents energy generated and purchased by BED prior to renewable energy certificate (REC) sales and amounts to 361,574 MWh of electricity.

After Accounting for Renewable Attribute REC Sales and Purchases

In order to verify that its energy portfolio is 100% renewable under Vermont’s Renewable Energy Standard (RES), each year BED must retire Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) equivalent to its annual sales from generators qualified by the State of Vermont. BED receives RECs for each MWh of renewable energy that BED generates or purchases under its contracts. Sales of RECs are allowed under BED’s integrated resource plan and help BED control the rate impacts of purchasing newer renewable resources (which are generally more expensive than older renewable resources or non-renewable alternatives). BED sells some of its higher-value RECs from its owned or contracted sources and purchases lower-value RECs from the renewable resource market for RES compliance purposes, and to maintain an energy portfolio that is 100 percent renewably sourced.

In CY2021 BED sold RECs representing over 240,000 MWh of generation and received revenues of approximately $8.4 million – equal to over 19% of its cost of service. BED purchased and retired Vermont qualified RECs to replace the RECS sold.

For 2021, BED reserved/retired 326,513 RECs from hydroelectric resources, approximately 8,000 RECs in excess of its 2021 sales of 318,513 MWh. BED voluntarily retires RECs in excess of its sales to customers in order to account for energy lost in the distribution and transmission of power to customers along with energy used by BED itself for its facilities and electric vehicle fleet.

2021 BED Renewability After REC Transactions 

The following table represents the emission profile of the RECs that BED retired for 2021 as tracked by the New England Power Pool Generator Information System (note “-“ represents a zero value as for 2021 all RECs retired were from hydroelectric plants).

	Carbon Dioxide	Carbon Monoxide	Mercury	Nitrogen Oxide	Organic Compounds	Particulates	Particulates (<10 microns)	Sulphur Dioxides
Renewability lbs. per MWh	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–