Narragansett Bay and the Newport Bridge
Solar Legislator Score: 
STATE LEGISLATION
Among the earliest Colonists to arrive in America, those who settled in the colony of Rhode Island were probably the feistiest and most independent. By 1663 they had negotiated a charter with King Charles II establishing Rhode Island as a highly autonomous self-governing colony with religious freedom and recognized territorial claims. Theirs was the most generous charter to be issued by England, but pressure was growing in the Motherland to tighten up colonial control.
The colonists were reluctant to give up what they had achieved, and on May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first of the thirteen original colonies to break from British Rule and declare independence. The people of Rhode Island were also the first to engage in armed hostilities with the British. True to form, they were the last to ratify the Declaration of Independence, demanding that the Bill of Rights be added to guarantee individual freedoms. Rhode Island, in spite of its diminutive size, has obviously played a large role in shaping the history of this country, as well as their own destiny.
They continue to shape their own destiny in modern times in matters of energy independence. In April of 2007, Governor Donald L. Carcieri submitted Senate bill 943 to the General Assembly to create the Rhode Island Power Authority to drive alternative energy development. In 2004, the state had adopted a Renewable Portfolio Standard that calls for 20% of Rhode Island’s energy needs to be met by clean energy sources. It is an aggressive commitment, consistent with the array of individual incentive programs that encourage solar power development (see below). Rhode Island’s lawmakers have earned a Solar Legislator Score of “Excellent”. “Good” because the rebate program has gone away.
STATE INCENTIVE PROGRAMS, UTILITY REBATES, UTILITY LOANS, and UTILITY INCENTIVES
Rhode Island has created a number of incentive programs to promote clean energy. Listed below are those that are applicable to solar power, with links to the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE) which provide program details.
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
RULES, REGULATIONS, AND POLICIES
Energy Standards for Public Buildings
Renewables Portfolio Standard
Solar Access Law/Guideline
EXAMPLE RESIDENTIAL SOLAR INSTALLATION
Providence, the State Capitol, is also the largest city in Rhode Island. Electrical service is provided by Narragansett Electric (National Grid), a utility which serves 38 communities and 465,000 customers throughout the state. Rates are generally high throughout the New England area, and Rhode Island averages 13.04 cents/kWh applied to an average usage of about 7440 kWh/year. The solar rating here is “good”, but that is not the only reason why power from the sun is a good bet in this state.
To reduce dependence on conventional electricity by 50%, a Photovoltaic system will require 350 square feet of roof area, and equipment and installation costs will be approximately $22,500 (mid-range estimate) for a 3kW system. Now let’s look at what it will actually cost you after taking advantage of Rhode Island’s progressive solar incentive programs.
- Expected state rebate: $14,175 (no longer available! updated August 2009!!)
- State tax credit/deduction: $4,331
- Less income tax on state tax credit: ($1,213)
- Federal tax credit: $2,000 (now 30% of system cost so now $6,750!!! However, this will also be taxed as income. Check with your tax advisor.)
Estimated NET COST: $12,632
- Increase in Property Value: $8,540
- 25-year Utility Savings: $17,918
- Greenhouse gas (CO2) saved over 25-year system life: 76.0 tons
CONSENSUS
Rhode Island has taken the “holistic” approach, and is tackling the state’s energy problems on a broad front. The previous example shows how a potential solar user can benefit significantly from just a couple of the state’s legislative actions. Keep up the good work, Rhode Island. ‘Nuff said.
Click here to have multiple solar installers bid to upgrade your Rhode Island home or business.
RI is not solar friendly and this site needs to update its information. There is NO rebate. National grid does NOTHING for PV installs. They only supply net metering because the government made them. The wind energy that the state is supporting is just smoke and mirrors. Look where the money is going. None of it is going to produce 1 watt of green power.
Michael Johnson is correct, RI is absolutely NOT solar friendly. There is no rebate and nothing from National Grid. And , like everything else here, getting any info from the state on solar energy is like pulling hen’s teeth.
There was incentive money in 2005 because we received some, but it was from the end of the program. We have the panels and our utility bills are essentially zero. The Feds should incentivize installation, the systems work with no problems.
I live in Rhode Island and would love to have solar power. Finding helpful info is impossible!
The latest RI scam is the 250 million dollars in federal stimuls money. Where is that money going?
Home owners should look a hot water solar and eliminate 30% of their energy usage, then look at PV.
Chris, not sure where the stimulus money is, but you’re right that energy efficiency would be helpful and we recommend it be done together. In our example, this system reduce electric costs by 50%, but with energy efficiency measures such as using CFL bulbs and increasing insulation or replacing old refrigerators with energy star models, that same system might take care of 75% or more! Thanks for commenting.
Anyone know any good sources for more info on Rhode Island state solar incentives? I’ve been looking through the state’s website, but would like more detail and an outside opinion…
thanks
Hi, Devin,
We’re behind updating our info, I know. We’re trying to get to every state as soon as we can, but incentives keep changing. Best thing to do is to fill out our form to get a free local quote. You can only lose a little bit of time since it’s free, and worse come to worse, you’ll gain a whole lot of information that you can use for the future about your own power usage and solar potential. We hope to get to updating Rhode Island in early 2010.
Rhode Island is giving away some of that stimulus money to non-utility scale (residential) renewable energy projects right now.Find the application on the office of energys’ web site. energy.ri.gov
2011 and still nothing from the state as far as solar rebates. 25% tax credit and 30% fed is what you get. Don’t think you add this up and get 55% off. You do not.
On the bright side prices have dropped 3-fold on solar vacuum tubes for hot water since I made my first post here!!! You can get a 30 tube collector for under $1300-. I’ll be doing this WITHOUT the help of the pathetic state government energy program. Too bad if I lived in Mass I could just about get the entire thing for free!!
I have looked at installing both water & PV panels. Comments above are correct and there is no incentive to become independent of non-renewable sources of energy.
We should be like California, their net metering pays those sending power to the grid the same amount that the utility charges their consumers. Think it over, as it presently stands, the utility makes money from homeowners who install Solar panels, they have no overhead, no new plants to produce energy, no maintenance and no labor force. Put on top of this that net metering to the grid has close to zero loss vs utilities present loss of over 25% of the power they generate via transmission line loss.
I have not moved on my plans for two reasons;
1 – Solar panels are produced by Germany or China – how come our Federal Stimulus didn’t put us in a position to produce cost effective panels?
2 – As noted above, why should I in essence build power plant that my utility company will profit from?
The USA needs to make some forward thinking efforts to thumb our noses on oil and gas. With the horrific oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, we should have fined Exxon the street value of the estimated barrels of oil leaked. These funds should have been placed in a fund, strictly for a national government move to solar. Every homeowner should have received, a basic solar system,with a minimum of 2 panels but designed and built to expand to cover 75% of the homeowners power consumption. The basic 2 panel, design, permits, equipment and labor all provided at no cost to the homeowner, paid from the Exxon fines.
Imagine how much energy could be saved with even 50% of our homes with 2 solar panels?
Lets set the record straight, if the US is to stop slipping in technology, we need to lead – and quickly, least we see our talent move not our of state, but out of the country.
RI lost its 25% tax credit in 2011. The good rating should be dropped to Poor at this piont.
I’ve looked into Solar for my house, but the lack of tax credits here makes the install costs prohibitive. According to the this site, Rhode Island ranks the same as California. I’d say that’s way, way off the mark. I wonder if there are community groups that can get together to “buy in bulk” for whole neighborhoods, thus dramatically cutting costs. I heard about a neighborhood association on the West Side doing something like this?
To Paddymcc, it was Transocean and BP that had the blowout in the US Gulf of Mexico. The lawsuit will be in New Orleans Federal Court starting Feb 2012..there’s nearly $40-60 billion at stake to be paid to plaintiffs and fines to the US govt. Ok, where’s my soapbox…
RI is a joke regarding green power. It’s all a dog and pony show regarding the new tarrif laws passed last month..they only benifit large commercial projects, once again “the corporations rule”. (what would you expect from a republican governor?) We put 4.6 kW Pv array on a new garage I built specifically to mount my panels (roof angle at 41deg and bearing around 190deg magnetic) Feb 2011(total cost of garage $36K, solar install was $16,300 TOTAL cost. I did the wiring up with a buddy. It works awesome we produce about 150Kw/month over what the house requires. (we are very conservative with energy CFL’s, use a clothes line when possible etc.) so we get a check from Nat’l Grid. BUT it’s at a reduced rate. woudl prefer that Nat’l Grid just add up teh extra kW so we heat siuppliment with electric but that is a joke too, they wipe out whatever you have accumulated in kW credits every January! So they make out like bandits ..literally.
Another big problem for solar Pv in RI..The town (Little Compton) also increased my property value by $144,000 after I did this install! I applied for a review of this estimate and they went down to $90K..still absoutely insane propety appreciation. The garage and solar system combined cost just over $52K! Also, RI state law declares that towns may not add the cost of the solar Pv to property value. So now I’m fighting city hall. (“Vison” the company that estimates property value for Little Compton are in my sights for a lawsuit if this does not get resolved) Rhode Island is a beautiful place; it’s just our politicians that are “bought” and don’t represent the people trying to make a difference.
Go solar and join the fight…keeps life interesting! PS,our system blasts power during the winter, cold winter temps increase conductivity of the panels.
