Montpelier has received an $8 million grant from the US Department of Energy for a district heating plant fired by local wood chips, according to Gwen Hallsmith, Montpelier's Planning Director. My understanding is that the new district heating plant would go into the building that now houses state government's oil-fired district heating plant (the one with the big smokestack), behind the Department of Motor Vehicles building, and that the buildings served would include downtown businesses and residences.

Montpelier got the biggest award of the five projects that the Department of Energy today announced shared $20.5 million; the next largest award was $5 million.

This is how the DoE press release describes the project:

This project will further Montpelier’s energy goals by supporting installation of a 41 MMBtu combined heat and power district energy system fueled with locally-sourced renewable and sustainably-harvested wood chips. The CHP system will be sized to provide heating to the Vermont Capitol Complex, city owned schools, the City Hall Complex, and up to 156 buildings in the community’s designated downtown district for a total of 176 buildings and 1.8 million square feet served. By providing 1.8 million KWh of power to the grid, the system will maximize its operating efficiency and reduce thermal costs for users in the community. Montpelier will conduct outreach to encourage replication regionally and nationally through its project partners, the Biomass Energy Resource Center, the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, and Veolia Energy North America. DOE share: $8,000,000

I don't suppose this will change the minds of my secessionist colleagues...but hold the secession until Montpelier secures these funds, OK? ;-)