Evaluation of Rhode Island Distributed Generation Policies

The Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources (OER) in partnership with Sustainable Energy Advantage, LLC (SEA) has begun a public stakeholder process to evaluate Rhode Island’s Distributed Generation policies. 

The energy industry has undergone significant changes since the implementation of net metering, virtual net metering, and Renewable Energy Growth laws. Energy storage has emerged as a new technology, and there has been a shift towards electrification of the State.

The General Assembly has been considering possible adjustments to these laws, such as a 3-year sizing restriction for rooftop solar and solar siting subject. OER anticipates that this legislative session will likely have bills filed with proposed amendments to the existing laws. An example is an update to Net Metering—House Bill 5033.

To help with this process, OER has partnered with Sustainable Energy Advantage, LLC (SEA) to analyze the economics and future pathways of renewable energy programs and policies and engage with stakeholders to evaluate current and alternative policy pathways.

During this process, OER's goal is to consider the benefits and costs of maintaining the current DG policy pathways and compare them with potential alternative pathways. It plans to engage with a wide array of stakeholders to evaluate current and alternative policy pathways and provide information about the state laws for possible consideration by policymakers during the 2023 legislative session.

Members of the public are invited to attend stakeholder meetings and/or submit comments. Please send written comments to cbrown@seadvantage.com, copying jkennerly@seadvantage.com and karen.bradbury@energy.ri.gov.

Stakeholder Meeting 5. May 5, 2023

OER and SEA held their fifth Stakeholder Meeting on May 5, 2023. The purpose of the meeting was to share a draft set of benefit-cost results for current and alternative policy cases for the Renewable Energy Growth (REG), Virtual Net Metering (VNM) and Net Metering (NM) programs.

Materials for the meeting may be found below. 

Stakeholder Meeting 4. April 7, 2023

OER and SEA held their fourth Stakeholder Meeting on April 7, 2023. This meeting covered the proposed benefit cost analysis categories, assumptions and inputs. 

Materials from the meeting may be found below. 

Stakeholder Meeting 3. March 27, 2023 

OER and SEA held their third Stakeholder Meeting on March 27, 2023. This meeting covered the methodology for estimating DG capacity need and evaluating potential DG policy approaches. 

Materials from the meeting may be found below. 

Stakeholder Meeting 2. March 3, 2023

OER and SEA held their second Stakeholder Meeting on March 3, 2023. This meeting covered key objectives of design process and overview of DG policy and program design elements.

Materials from the meeting may be found below.

Stakeholder Meeting 1. Feb 9, 2023

OER and SEA held their first Stakeholder Meeting on February 9, 2023. The context of this meeting included evaluating the State’s distributed generation policies, and the future path of new state legislation with key stakeholders.

Materials from the meeting may be found below.

Upcoming Meeting Agendas

Public Comments