Julie Moore, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, speaks to the group during a tour of Middlebury’s biomass plant. All wood chip deliveries take place in the storage area on the right.
(From left to right) Julie Moore, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources; Mike Moser, Middlebury’s director of Facilities Services; Andrew Perchlik, director and fund manager of the Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund; and Jack Byrne, Middlebury’s director for sustainability integration, stand inside the biomass plant during a tour that Moser gave the group.

on September 11.

Mike Moser, Middlebury’s director of Facilities Services, led the tour. Sam Lincoln, deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation; Andrew Perchlik, director and fund manager of the Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund, which is located within the Vermont Public Service Department; and Jack Byrne, Middlebury’s director for sustainability integration, joined the tour as well.

Moser began by leading the group outside to the back of the building, where the wood chip suppliers deliver truckloads of chips into a large bin. He ended it in the control room where staff can monitor the plant’s systems online.

Afterward, Moore, Lincoln, and Perchlik asked Moser a range of questions, from what types of wood chips work best to the staffing that’s required to keep the biomass plant running every day of the year.

Addison County was the sixth of 14 Vermont counties that the governor and members of his administration have visited. They plan to visit the remaining counties by the end of 2018.

Photos by Todd Balfour