Further cash injection for US district heating regeneration

A district-wide heating project in Vermont, US has been awarded more grants and loans from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help continue its regeneration last week.

The project, which will cost around $20 million (€15.4 million) in total, will replace an old state-owned heating plant in the Montpelier district with a new wood biomass facility. It is believed the new plant will heat the state government building, as well as city government buildings, schools and other structures.

The latest funding includes a $1 million grant and a $750,000 loan from the Clean Energy Development Fund. This tops up sums already received from the likes of the city ($2.75 million) and the federal Department of Energy ($8 million).

 ‘The heating plant is a great example of a municipality, the state and the federal government working together to promote the use of renewable energy,’ says Montpelier mayor John Hollar.

‘We can become a showcase for other cities in the use of a renewable source to heat its business district.  Downtown business owners could benefit for decades from the opportunity to rely on a reliable, low-cost source of renewable energy to heat their buildings.’

picture courtesy: VPR/Tony Talbot