A Blog Called Hope

With renewable energy sources and plans for a greener America receiving more attention from presidential hopefuls Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama, the hunt for more energy efficient solutions is on the rise. Recent bills by Senator Montalbano and Representatives Segal and Fox and scheduled to be voted on by both the Rhode Island House and Senate today at 4 pm, address the growing energy concern and will help launch the state into the national renewable energy economy.

The bills initiate a dramatic augmentation in overall limits and grant an increase from 1 megawatt to 1.65 MW in all projects.

Further increases in limits, through “Virtual Net Metering,” allows cities and towns to finance projects on city or town owned land up to 2.25 MW and then buy power directly from the developer. Cities or towns can then “virtually” apply excess energy to future bills or apply it to different city or town accounts, or “meters.” Overall, the state’s aggregate net metering has seen an increase from 5 MW to 2% of the peak load.

Residential customers can also apply excess generation to future bills. If excess credits still remain after 12 months, the credits will be applied to the Renewable Energy Low Income Fund.

Net metering will further benefit residential customers primarily with small solar installations and benefit cities and towns with small onshore wind farms.

The Amendment also allows cash-strapped communities to seek private-sector financing. For example, a the cost of a 1.5 MW wind turbine is approximately $3.5 million, not taking into consideration the cost of maintenance, legal and permitting fees that under previous legislation would be costs entirely assumed by the city or town. Under the new plan, cities and towns can benefit from developing renewable projects on municipal-owned land without the threat of liability or the constraints of the cost of ownership.

By promoting and facilitating long-term contracts between electric distribution companies and renewable energy developers and sponsors, the goals of “stabilizing long-term energy prices, enhancing environmental quality, creating new jobs in Rhode Island in the renewable energy sector, and facilitating the financing of renewable energy generation” are set to be met.

For more information on Rhode Island renewable energy bills, visit the bill status webpage of the Rhode Island General Assembly at http://dirac.rilin.state.ri.us/BillStatus/webclass1.asp.