This story by Maryellen Apelquist was first published in The Herald on Sept. 25, 2025.

This week, Catamount Solar technicians are expected to power up Randolph’s Community Solar 2 project, a recently completed, net-metering array on Beanville Road that may be the last of its kind in Vermont, at least for a while.

The future of such arrays, wherein community members buy shares and reap a reduced electric bill for years to come, has taken a hit from the state. Vermont no longer allows new group net-metering projects.

“We had to really hustle because after December 31, just passed, there were going to be no more permits approved,” said Jerry Ward, a retired physician who serves as the lead community organizer on CS2. “So we, in December, got that permit filed. And as of now, there will be nothing like this again until the law changes again.”

Still, during a visit to the CS2 site last Friday, the mood was celebratory.

“It’s definitely an exciting moment,” said Kevin McCollister, co-founder of Catamount Solar, as he walked down to the array, checking to make sure Green Mountain Power had delivered a meter.

GMP had, “so now we’ll get our guys back here to commission it.”

McCollister explained the basics of what’s next: the array will be turned on and start making power, and the credits from the power will be shared among the project’s subscribers according to the number of shares that they purchased.

CS2, a member-owned LLC, has 22 subscribers from the greater Randolph area. Typically an array of this size — it consists of 324 solar panels — benefits about 25 average households, Ward explained, but a few of CS2’s members are “pretty big.”

Ward and McCollister noted two more entities who will benefit from the array. Thanks to two anonymous shareholders, one in Brookfield and one in Royalton, the food shelves in Randolph and South Royalton will receive renewable energy credits on their utility bills.

The cost of buying into CS2, for an average household — about 4% of the array — is about $25,000, said Ward.

“It’d be about like buying it (for) your roof, a little bit cheaper.”

Over the first year, shareholders can expect to save about $172 per kilowatt; a 5-kW share would amount to savings of about $860 a year.

CS2 takes up about three-quarters of an acre on a 1.5-acre patch of land owned by Matt and Sarah Murawski on Beanville Road. CS1, Randolph’s first community solar project, on South Randolph Road, was developed about 10 years ago.

Completion of CS2 comes at a time when the federal government is darkening the future of solar, with energy policies that push costs higher for consumers.

In addition to a 30% residential solar tax credit for homeowners going away at the end of this year, the Trump administration has terminated investment tax credits for clean energy technologies — with various effective dates — and ordered the Internal Revenue Service to revise a safe-harbor provision that would have protected some project timelines for clean energy developers.

“What we’re seeing on the federal level is atrocious,” said McCollister, who is set to retire later this year. “It’s terrible, for so many reasons and on so many levels. And for whatever reason, this administration really doesn’t like renewables, especially wind and solar, and they’re really trying to do everything they can to stop it.”

While expressing his dismay over federal actions, McCollister noted that solar is not going away, “especially in Vermont,” where “people understand that it’s important.

“We need to do something. People want to do something to address climate change. It’s something that’s very practical that individuals and homeowners can do to make a difference. And on top of it, our electricity rates are only going up,” he said, noting that, historically, GMP had about 3 to 3.5% rate increases annually.

This year, the rate increase is 7.4%.

“There’s a clear trend (that) rates are going up faster than we’re used to. The national policies are only going to increase that trend, I believe, which makes solar a really viable option. It’s going to remain being a good investment for people.”