LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Renewable-energy council proposed for Rhode Island 

Credit:  By Alex Kuffner, Journal Staff Writer, The Providence Journal, www.projo.com 4 March 2011 ~~

PROVIDENCE – Legislators are working to form a council of government officials and business leaders that would create a state policy for the development of renewable energy.

At a meeting this week, members of the General Assembly’s Small Business Renewable Energy Task Force proposed the creation of a permanent council that would work on policy and funding options for the installation of wind turbines, solar panels and other clean-power projects. Rep. Deborah Ruggiero, D-Jamestown, Middletown, the chairwoman of the task force, said legislative leaders support the creation of such a council.

The task force talked at its meeting Wednesday of modeling the group on the state’s Energy Efficiency and Resource Management Council, which works on ways to conserve electricity and natural gas. The EERMC’s members, which include representatives of environmental groups, businesses and educational institutions, oversee the state’s energy-efficiency policy, working most notably with National Grid on programs for customers to save power.

The methods are relatively simple: switching from power-thirsty incandescent light bulbs to more-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, installing insulation to trap heat, setting up programmable thermostats. And they are working. A national energy group ranked Rhode Island seventh in the nation for its efficiency efforts in 2010.

The council’s work has been successful because it has been proven that it’s cheaper for National Grid to more efficiently use energy that’s already available than to bring new sources on line. And though that hasn’t forced the overall price of energy down, it has dampened any increases.

“The cost is not going up as much as it otherwise would,” said Kenneth Payne, administrator of the state Office of Energy Resources.

He and other members of the task force said that for renewable energy to take off in Rhode Island, the economics must make sense. If a renewable-energy council were formed, its tasks would include looking for all possible funding sources for projects and working to support a sustainable market for clean power in the state.

Currently, developers are limited in what they can do because the state essentially has only one source of money: the Renewable Energy Fund. And the fund is relatively small, with about $2 million annually in disbursements, according to its director Julian Dash.

Dash has been arguing for an increase in the amount of money given to the fund. Both the Renewable Energy Fund and the state’s energy-efficiency programs receive money from a surcharge paid by National Grid’s customers, but the fund receives a smaller overall share.

“There needs to be capital to do these projects,” said Dash. Unless there’s an increase in funding, he added, “I think we’ll still be faced with the challenge that it’s $2 million.”

Source:  By Alex Kuffner, Journal Staff Writer, The Providence Journal, www.projo.com 4 March 2011

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon