Businesses and organizations are starting to aggressively embrace the climate-conscious values of the people they serve. For some organizations, addressing climate-related goals impacts almost every part of their operation. Public transportation, for example, relies heavily on fossil fuels. Electric buses are still a novelty, and pandemic-induced financial struggles from record low rider rates create added hurdles for transit authorities looking to address their climate impact. Other industries, like agriculture and dairy farms in particular, have experienced steady financial pressure for years.
Is there a way for transportation climate goals, agricultural economic challenges, and the transition to renewable energy to come together and provide solutions to these challenges? Hampshire Power thinks so.
Hampshire Power’s Community Energy efforts provide a win-win solution in which businesses can support renewable energy and actually save money. It works like this: a large-scale renewable energy resource is hooked up to the local grid in cooperation with the utility. People and organizations serviced by this utility are eligible to subscribe to the community energy and receive a discount on their electric bill each month. Essentially, subscribers support local, renewable energy without installing anything on their property or paying any upfront costs, and they save money doing so.
Hampshire Power partnered with Ag-Grid Energy to build several anaerobic digesters on local farms that convert agricultural waste into energy, helping farmers to diversify revenue, implement climate-friendly practices, and contribute to their community by hosting community energy. Hampshire Power was retained by Ag Grid to find customers for the Anaerobic Digesters and the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) was eager to participate. The PVTA has been powered by Ag-Grid via local farms for over two years now.
PVTA, the largest regional transit authority in Massachusetts, services 24 communities and has over 2 million kWh of usage covered by local anaerobic digesters. Since early 2019, the transit authority has saved about $2,200 a month. As PVTA grows, so does Hampshire Power’s support for them. With their recent expansion of credits, their savings increased to around $4,000 a month. These savings allow PVTA to invest back into their community and better serve their customers and ridership.
“It’s great that what Hampshire Power is doing allows us to create savings to better serve what we’re doing. It’s a great partnership.” – Brandy Pelletier, PVTA
Hampshire Power makes complicated systems easy to understand and brings money-saving technology to its partners in a streamlined process. As experts in energy and customer relations, Hampshire Power is uniquely positioned to facilitate relationships between renewable energy developers, property owners, and businesses of all industries.
Want to lower your energy bill? Contact Hampshire Power.
