Ethan McElwain

April 29, 2010

South Burlington Solar Farm Survey Internship

This semester I am working with Professor Qingbin Wang to develop a survey pertaining to the newly proposed photovoltaic generation facility in South Burlington. I have only recently begun this internship. At this point I have only researched and worked for about ten hours. The survey is still ongoing and arrangements to receive credit at a later date are currently being examined.

South Burlington will soon be the home of a 498 panel photovoltaic electric power generation facility, located at the end of Dubois Drive, close to Interstate 89. This will be enough capacity to power over 400 average homes. VESCO will oversee the project, while the trackers will be installed by All Earth Renewables from Williston.

To develop a survey to determine community support and perception of the project, we first had to examine the academic literature and available resources pertaining to previous projects. I found that the vast majority of community solar projects received strong support. Only a handful were received negatively, mostly due to issues with development on sensitive habitat and connections to distrusted businesses. Projects in the developing world, in areas such as Zimbabwe, Angola, India, the Philippines, etc., have brought vital electricity, exponentially increasing the standard of living. Projects domestically have provided communities with increased levels of energy independence, while providing a source of clean energy.

This project is still ongoing. The survey will appear in South Burlington's local newspaper, The Other Paper, either in print with a mail-in option or in an online format. This will occur in the following weeks. Analysis of the results will begin shortly thereafter.

Professor Qingbin Wang, PhD
Office: 205C Morrill Hall
Phone: 802 656 4564
Email: Qingbin.Wang@uvm.edu