Judging from the overwhelming response received by the state’s new clean energy subsidy program, it would appear that Vermonters have struck gold — renewable energy resources, that is, the kind that power solar panels and turn wind turbine blades.

This past May, the Vermont legislature passed the Vermont Energy Act of 2009, which, among other things, requires utilities to buy the electricity generated by eligible renewable energy systems — like solar PV panels. (See this post, for more details.)

As reported by Vermont Public Radio, the program opened this week and was promptly overwhelmed by over 200 applications, representing a total of 172 megawatts (mWs) of new renewable energy capacity. As a point of reference, New Jersey recently announced that, statewide, 100 mWs of solar PV capacity has been installed to date. Granted, Vermont’s 172 mW figure includes project proposals for biomass, wind and methane-capture technologies. But, even so, it represents an impressive number of renewable energy projects — especially considering that the program just started accepting applications on Monday.

See more from VPR host John Dillon:

(Seddon) “It was a huge surprise.”

(Dillon) Leigh Seddon is vice president for Alteris Renewables, a company that works with solar energy developers.

(Seddon) “We were thinking that perhaps more than 12.5 megawatts would be applied for the first day, but nowhere near 172 megawatts.”

(Dillon) Andrew Perchlik is director of Renewable Energy Vermont, which lobbied for the new law. He says Vermont’s program has drawn national attention.

(Perchlik) “Since Vermont was the first state to really enact this on a statewide basis, we’re going to see pent-up demand that was around the whole country come to Vermont.”

(Dillon) The state Public Service Board set a rate of 30 cents a kilowatt hour for solar projects. Lower rates were established for small scale wind, hydroelectric, biomass and methane generation. The rates are called “feed in” tariffs because they are designed to get new projects quickly into the pipeline.

For more details on Vermont’s feed-in tariff program — which is officially called the Vermont Standard Offer for Qualifying Sustainably Priced Energy Enterprise Development (SPEED) Resources Program — see the VT Public Service Board website.