Renewable Ready program signed into law

STATE HOUSE — Gov. Dan McKee has signed an updated plan sponsored by Sen. Alana M. DiMario and Rep. June S. Speakman to help set the stage for the future of solar development in Rhode Island.

The legislation (2024-S 2293Aaa, 2024-H 7616A), which was signed into law Tuesday, will create the Rhode Island Renewable Ready program to ensure renewable energy projects, such as solar farms, are built without increasing electric rates or clearing Rhode Island’s forests.

“Siting solar installations on brownfields and other disturbed sites helps us to meet our Act on Climate goals while protecting our natural resources,” said Representative Speakman (D-Dist. 68, Warren, Bristol). “However, there are significant costs to municipalities and state agencies to prepare these sites and connect them to our electrical grid. This act makes use of available federal dollars to help offset these costs and keep Rhode Island’s transition to green energy moving forward.”

Said Senator DiMario (D-Dist. 36, Narragansett, North Kingstown, New Shoreham), who chairs the Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee, “This bill has been improved from last year by incorporating suggestions from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank and the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources to more efficiently make use of federal funds for solar development. What hasn’t changed is the urgency to create our plan for the next decade of solar development in Rhode Island. This is a huge step forward in ensuring our energy is affordable, clean and reliable.”

The legislation establishes a new state program funded by federal funds within the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank called Renewable Ready that will help offset the costs to prepare certain sites for renewable energy development, focusing first on sites that are owned by states and municipalities. Eligible locations include rooftops of large buildings, properties adjacent to major roads and so-called brownfield sites.

A brownfield is a former industrial area where potential or actual contamination complicates development. Common examples of brownfields include former gas stations, metal plating facilities and dry cleaners. Often, there is federal or settlement money available for the remediation of brownfield sites that the Renewable Ready program will tap into to fund clean-ups. That would ensure the costs to prepare these preferred sites for solar development would not be passed along to ratepayers.

Under the Renewable Ready program, the Office of Energy Resources, along with the Department of Environmental Management, will identify sites such as brownfields or large rooftops for solar development over forested sites or greenspaces. The Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank will establish the fund with available federal dollars to award to successful applicants to offset the costs of connecting solar developments sited on these targeted areas to the electric grid. The Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank operates a revolving fund and works with public and private capital providers.

The legislation was inspired by the innovative Site Readiness model, originally used in the Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown to promote economic development. The model has now been used throughout Rhode Island via the RI Ready program.

In 2021, the state passed the Act on Climate, committing the state to carbon neutrality by 2050. In 2022, the state passed one of the boldest clean energy plans in the country, requiring 100% of the state’s electricity come from local renewable sources by 2033, while also establishing a plan and a request for proposals for offshore wind developments.

Now, advocates say, the state must move swiftly to plan solar development.

“Passage of the Renewable Ready Program and Fund encourages the environmentally sound expansion of our solar industry by incentivizing development on previously disturbed sites while investing in local clean energy jobs,” said Erica Hammond, field director at Climate Jobs RI. “We thank Chairwoman DiMario and Representative Speakman and the Rhode Island General Assembly for their leadership and support on this important initiative that will help us meet our Act on Climate goals.”

Said Chairwoman DiMario, “In our next ten years of solar development, we need to focus on responsible land use, high labor standards and minimizing the impact on ratepayers so we can all benefit from energy generation that is both cleaner and less expensive than fossil fuels. Renewable Ready means protecting our forests, creating jobs and producing more clean energy, all while using federal or other available funds so ratepayers won’t see their bills go up. It’s time to take this next step towards a modern, sustainable energy system.”