RI’s Clean Energy Portfolio

Embrace Home Loans in Middletown, RI buiding — Embrace Home Loans first to use C-PACE

Embrace Home Loans in Middletown, RI, one of Rhode Island’s fastest-growing companies, is the first company to complete a solar project using the new Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy program.

Rose Hill & Plains Road Closed Landfill Solar Projects

The University of Rhode Island and the towns of Narragansett and South Kingstown join forces to turn landfills into solar energy.

Meeting Street School Solar Project

Located on the south side of Providence, Meeting Street School saves $30,000 in energy costs by installing a rooftop solar array.

Rocky Hill School uses solar panels as a teaching tool

Rocky Hill School in Warwick, has a rooftop array which not only provides 20 percent of the building’s annual electricity, but also offers an educational tool for teachers.

Church Community net-zero home

The Church Community Housing Corporation built a single-family house in Tiverton, Rhode Island, that looks and functions like a conventional home, but produces enough electricity to offset its entire electrical consumption over the course of a year.

Study results show benefits of Tiverton and Little Compton solar project

As more homes and businesses install renewable energy projects, communities will generate more of their own local power via solar and wind, potentially reducing demand on the electrical grid.

As of December 31, 2021, the state has counted approximately 1,080 MW of clean energy generation capacity. Of that 1,080 MW total, 458 MW is solar, 430 MW is offshore wind, 148 MW is onshore wind, 35 MW is landfill gas/anaerobic digestion, and 9 MW is small hydroelectric power.

With the addition of the 400 MW Revolution Wind project, approximately 85 percent of Rhode Island's current clean energy portfolio is comprised of in-state renewables or projects scheduled for adjacent federal waters. For more information and resources on climate change in Rhode Island, click here

2021 DEC 32 clean energy info graphic. 1080 MW from clean energy

How we count projects in RI’s Clean Energy Portfolio

The projects that are counted in Rhode Island’s clean energy portfolio include a wide variety of sizes and locations, of the following technologies:

Solar, whether rooftop, carport, or ground mount
Small hydro
Wind, both offshore and onshore
Landfill gas/anaerobic digestion

Projects may be proposed, under development, or even under construction without being counted in the portfolio. A clean energy project is only counted when one of the following events has occurred:

Project is interconnected to the electric grid. This set of projects includes projects that use one of the state renewable energy programs, including the Renewable Energy Growth Program, Net Metering, the Renewable Energy Fund.
The project has a long-term contract or Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) approved by the RI Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Projects in this category are generally larger scale projects which have been selected under a competitive bid process, negotiated a PPA with the utility, and had the PPA reviewed and approved by the PUC.

For more information on the state’s Clean Energy Portfolio, contact Nicholas Ucci, Commissioner, at nicholas.ucci@energy.ri.gov