Green Mountain Power in Vermont shot past its solar installation goal.

The utility announced three years ago that it aimed to help customers install 10,000 solar panels in 1,000 days. But by Nov. 2, home and business owners had installed or been approved to install more than 26,000 solar panels.

“We set what we thought was a pretty ambitious goal,” said Green Mountain Power spokeswoman Dottie Schnure.

But the financial incentive that the utility coupled with that goal shot already high interest levels through the roof as people began inquiring and acting.

“We pay the customers with solar 6 cents per kilowatt hour they produce,” Schnure said. “We pay them that above and beyond the meter benefits they see with solar.”

In addition to incentivizing home and small business solar installations, the utility invested in a number of its own solar plants all over the state.

“People started to realize there are benefits to going solar,” Schnure said.

While utility solar incentives and rebates are running out or being gobbled up faster than companies expected all over the country, Green Mountain was able to shoulder more than two and a half times the expected incentives it expected without flinching.

“For us, going out and buying power during the peak summer hours is really expensive,” Schnure said. “It’s actually more economic for us to pay this incentive than it is to buy in peak demand.”

While the incentive makes good economic sense, it also offers an even higher value in helping the utility become one of the greenest in the country.