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6/9/2011
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Small Business Renewable Energy Task Force issues report
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STATE HOUSE – Rhode Island needs a more coordinated effort to encourage the development of renewable energy projects and needs to establish ways of financing them, according to a task force that spent the last nine months studying renewable energy policies in Rhode Island.
The Small Business Renewable Energy Task Force, led by Rep. Deborah Ruggiero (D-Dist. 74, Jamestown, Middletown), issued its final report recently, and has submitted four bills aimed at strengthening the coordination of renewable energy efforts and creating statewide plans and goals for them, as well as better identifying funding for them.
“One of the first observations of the Task Force was that renewable energy in Rhode Island suffered from ‘disjointed incrementalism,’ a lack of collaboration amongst the state departments. As a result, the Small Business Renewable Energy Task Force worked to identify, review and rethink renewable energy in Rhode Island,” said Chairwoman Ruggiero in introducing the report.
The commission focused on improving organizational infrastructure to coordinate the state’s interest in renewable energy development, the need for a strategic plan for a sustainable renewable energy industry in Rhode Island, and the need for financing mechanisms for renewable energy development, and suggested four bills, all of which have been introduced by Representative Ruggiero.
Updating conflicting state laws concerning energy efficiency and renewable energy is one of the first recommendations of the panel. One bill that the panel recommended to achieve that goal was recently passed by the Assembly and signed into law. That bill (2011-H 5281) decreases Rhode Islanders’ energy costs and carbon emissions by encouraging energy efficiency. The bill is part of the state’s least-cost procurement law, which was approved by the legislature in 2006 and 2008 and required natural gas and electric companies serving Rhode Island to invest in energy-efficiency programs when their costs would be less than the purchase price of the fuel they’d save. While least-cost procurement saves ratepayers money overall, it transfers some costs that would otherwise be paid for as fuel purchases to the energy-efficiency charge, which was capped at a level too low to make the law effective. The legislation, which Representative Ruggiero sponsored, lifts that cap to make full implementation of the least-cost procurement laws possible. The bill will allow new investments in household and business energy efficiency in the state, which in turn would put more Rhode Islanders to work performing energy audits, energy-efficiency improvements and in other green jobs.
The second part of the bill extends Renewable Energy Fund, which would otherwise end in 2013. This fund, administered by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, provides loans and grants to companies working on renewable-energy projects.
To improve planning for renewable energy projects, the task force also recommended a bill (2011-H 5938) to create a Renewable Energy Board that ensures collaboration and communication between state agencies to create a strategic renewable energy plan for Rhode Island. It also includes an advisory council comprised of representatives of small business, environmental advocacy and ratepayers.
The third bill(2011-H 6104) concerns distributed generation, the small-scale generation of power in locations all over the grid, as opposed to only at large-scale power plants. Distributed generation reduces the waste of power lost during transmission, since the power can be used near where it is produced. The bill would allow small-scale energy producers to enter 15-year contracts with National Grid, using a standard contract and a set price, enabling renewable energy projects to get financing. Larger-scale projects would compete, using the standard contract, but using the set price as a ceiling to ensure price competition.
The final bill (2011-H 6117) restores the renewable-energy tax credit to homeowners. This elimination of this tax credit has stalled the market for solar installations. Restoring the credit will make renewable energy projects more affordable for Rhode Island homeowners, making their homes more energy-efficient, creating jobs with the installations, and generating sales and income tax revenue for the state.
Besides Chairwoman Ruggiero, the members of the task force are House Environment and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Arthur Handy (D-Dist. 18, Cranston); Rep. Laurence Ehrhardt (D-Dist. 32- North Kingstown); Johnson and Wales University Rhode Island Small Business Development Center State Director John Cronin; Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation Renewable Energy Director Julian Dash; Central Tools Director of Sales and Marketing Bruce Dawson; Tom Getz of the Department of Environmental Management , Portsmouth Abbey Director of Operations, Paul Jestings; University of Rhode Island Partnership for Energy Co-Director Marion Gold; rTerra Chief Technical Officer Eric Offenberg; Newport Biodiesel President Robert Morton; Office of Energy Resources Director Kenneth Payne; and National Grid Executive Vice President Mike Ryan.
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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