RUTLAND, Vt. -
Green Mountain Power plans to maintain a presence in downtown Rutland once the merger with the Rutland-based Central Vermont Public Service is complete.
The utility will open an Energy Innovation Center. Officials say it will be part brainstorming center, part public interaction area. The building, which will be somewhere in the downtown, will host roughly 30 employees whose job will be to research new, innovative ideas for energy savings for customers and develop new sources of energy.
"We really want to help transform the Rutland region both economically and the way people look at this region. Here in Rutland we're often our worst critics and we want to give Rutland something it can be proud of and be on the leading edge of developing this new energy source in a really broad and deep way," said Steve Costello of Green Mountain Power.
Costello says he hopes the innovations will draw other renewable energy companies, like solar, to set up offices in the region. The goal is to have the center open by the fall.
