Legislation encourages new energy projects

PROVIDENCE – Gov. Donald L. Carcieri signed into law net-metering legislation encouraging renewable energy production by enabling those who build related projects to get credit for the energy pumped into the electric grid.
The bills – sponsored by Rep. David Segal, D-Providence, and Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston – were signed by Carcieri this month. They were introduced to correct an “overly narrow” interpretation by R.I. Public Utilities Commission of a similar bill last year. Those bills limited net metering to five accounts per community, Carcieri’s office said in a news release.
The new law allows the utility to write a check to the project owner, which they can use to pay whichever electric bills they want. Owners also can use it to pay off debt incurred by the construction of the turbines or solar panels.
Certain producers – such as municipalities, farms and affordable housing developers – can opt to have up to 10 of their other bills credited with the value of the excess generation instead of receiving a check. &#8226