Rhode Island Posts Proposed Tariffs, Meets Deadline

In record time, the government of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations has posted proposed feed-in tariffs for renewable energy.

Paul Gipe, Contributor
October 03, 2011 | 2 Comments

Only signed into law by Governor Lincoln Chafee on 29 June, 2011, Rhode Island determined a methodology for calculating the tariffs, held four public hearings, and posted their findings by the statutory deadline at the end of September.

Rhode Island's fast action should allay any further hand wringing by North Americans that calculating feed-in tariffs is difficult and time consuming.

Rhode Island becomes only the second state in the Northeast to implement a feed-in tariff program and one of the few states in the US to do so.

The Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources managed the expedited process and filed their recommendations September 27, 2011 in compliance with the law.

2 Comments

Thomas M
October 4, 2011

Just another waste of paper and ink.

ANONYMOUS
October 3, 2011

The author writes: "Rhode Island's fast action should allay any further hand wringing by North Americans that calculating feed-in tariffs is difficult and time consuming."

Who was wringing their hands about that? A far greater worry is that governments would impose ruinous costs on ratepayers, by (as in the table above) setting payments for PV at 330% of the national average price for electricity in the US (even before delivery charges) and promise to maintain such payments for 15 years even though PV costs are plummeting. This is just a way whereby the government can give other people's money away to a special interest group without directly raising taxes. THAT is something to worry about!
Steven

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Paul Gipe

Paul Gipe has written extensively about renewable energy for both the popular and trade press. He has also lectured widely on wind energy and how to minimize its impact on the environment and the communities of which it is a part. For his...