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Friday, January 16, 2009
Rhode Island seeks ideas for $4.5M clean energy fund
By Efrain Viscarolasaga
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Amidst a transition in the upper echelons of management, the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. has begun accepting applications under the state’s Renewable Energy Fund.
The solicitation is the first since management of the estimated $4.5 million fund was moved from the Office of Energy Resources to the RIEDC.
The RIEDC recently completed the new rules and regulations surrounding the disbursement of the fund, which raises about $2.5 million per year from a customer surcharge through National Grid and is currently operating with a balance of about $4.5 million according to officials.
The new components will include a $1 million allotment to municipal projects, as well as up to $200,000 for projects related to affordable housing, and $250,000 in grants for technical consulting and feasibility studies. Industrial and commercial projects are also eligible for the remaining fund, with a cap of $250,000 annual funding per award.
According to Michael Saul, the interim executive director of the RIEDC, officials hope the technical consulting aspect will spill into new projects in the other three categories.
“The idea was to put together a more comprehensive program and to increase the renewable energy segment in the state and begin seeding a ‘green’ sector in Rhode Island,” he said.
Saul took the place of previous director Saul Kaplan in December, when Kaplan left the organization to manage his non-profit consultancy the Business Innovation Factory, which he founded in 2005.
Previous renewable energy projects funded by the Renewable Energy Fund include the Portsmouth Abbey Wind Turbine and the Rhode Island Wind Alliance. According to Saul, one of this year’s biggest expenses will be the Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) permitting process research to be executed for the proposed 1.3 megawatt, $1.5 billion offshore wind farm announced last year.
There will still be room for other projects, however. Alternative energy companies based in Rhode Island include wave energy developer Ocean Renewable Power Co. of Bristol, and commercial and residential alternative energy system developer Alteris Renewables Inc. (formerly known as SolarWrights Inc.), also of Bristol.
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