AES3 - Bristol | acorn-energy-coop

Bristol Community Solar (AES3)
A Community-Owned Solar Project in Bristol, VT

Note: Since this is our third community solar project in Addison County, we initially named it Acorn Energy Solar 3 (AES3), but at a meeting with the Bristol select board on January 11, 2021, the project was renamed Bristol Community Solar (BCS).

Background

In early 2020, we were contacted by a member of the Bristol Energy Committee about the possibility of developing a community solar project on the capped former municipal landfill located off 80 Pine Street in Bristol.

The site was well suited for solar development since it has good southern exposure and can't be seen from any public streets. In addition, this type of "brownfield" site receives favorable treatment from Vermont's energy permitting and approval agencies. In April 2020, we organized Acorn Energy Solar 3, LLC, the legal entity that participated in the early project formation and development work.

In late December 2020, we signed a memorandum of understanding with Co-operative Insurance Companies of Middlebury to be the “Series A investor” for our Bristol project. We are extremely pleased to have them as major participants in BCS (AES3) (they played a similar major investment role in our Shoreham, Vermont project, AES2, as well as our Middlebury project, Acorn Energy Solar One).

In December 2020, we submitted an application for a Certificate of Public Good (CPG) to the Vermont Public Utility Commission. Our application was uncontested, and we received the CPG on April 1, 2021.

Project details

We worked with Aegis Renewable Energy of Waitsfield (our contractor for AES2 in Shoreham) to develop a plan for the approximately $1.8 million Bristol project. The AES3 design calls for approximately 1,694 solar panels, 440 watts each, which covers a little over three acres on the 12-acre capped landfill site. At 500 kilowatts, BCS (AES3) is considerably larger than our two previous 150 kW projects in Middlebury and Shoreham.

Bristol construction images