Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee says positioning Rhode Island in the forefront of renewable energy reform is just as high in priority as tackling the state’s budget and pension-plan problems.
His support of a broad approach to environmental issues will help Rhode Island gain some momentum he says was lost over the last eight years under his predecessor, Chafee told Providence Business News in a recent interview.
But not everyone is convinced that Chafee has a clear and concise plan to do what he says he supports.
The governor said the state wants to set a good economic table to attract businesses and keep them here, and factors such as energy cost, an educated work force and having good, clean, reliable power all play a role in the state’s economic development. Having a broad approach to the way the state handles renewable energy efforts will go a long way in helping to set that table, Chafee said.
“I think a mix, so we’re not dependent on just one coal or one natural gas, having some diversity is important,” he said. “I’m a big believer in renewable, especially hydro. It’s very, very reliable.”
Former Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s renewable energy efforts often seemed to be focused on bringing wind farms to the coast of Rhode Island. (Providence-based Deepwater Wind has spent three years refining a plan to construct a 1,000-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island shores. The developer had until Oct. 3 to submit its proposal to the U.S. Department of Interior.)
Carcieri’s relatively narrow approach to the issue cost the state valuable momentum, some local industry leaders say.
Chafee says even though the wind farms seem to have brought Europe to the forefront in renewable energy, Rhode Island needs a mix of solar, wind and hydro efforts to help catapult the state in the right direction.
Andrew Dzykewicz, who served as energy commissioner under Carcieri, told PBN that wind farms were not the sole focus of renewable energy for the Carcieri administration, but that the endeavor brought so much attention and national recognition to the state that it overshadowed the rest of the work that was done.
Bob Chew, who founded SolarWrights, which later became part of Alteris Renewables Inc., agrees with Chafee, however. He believes Alteris, which is in the process of being acquired by California-based Real Goods Solar Inc., would have stayed in Rhode Island had the package of renewable energy bills passed this year been in place. Alteris moved its corporate headquarters to Wilton, Conn., from Bristol, but also has a Providence office.
“The previous governor put all of his marbles in one big basket, which would have been a home run if it worked,” Chew said. “The current legislation passed this [past] summer is really changing Rhode Island from being a state that was looked at as unfavorable to renewables.”
The five bills signed into law this year by Chafee focus on the following:
• Establish a Renewable Energy Coordinating Board and advisory group.
• Clarify and reconstruct the net metering law, which provides a means to finance energy generation where it is used.
• Create a new financing structure to promote distributive-generation renewable energy to diversify and expand the state’s energy-generation sources and stimulate economic development.
• Fix the delay in technical studies needed to be completed before renewable projects can connect to the grid.
• Provide the EDC another six years of funding for the Renewable Energy Development Fund, which enables it to do feasibility studies. The latter bill was passed earlier in the last legislative session, but still is a critical part of the package, said Kenneth F. Payne, administrator for the R.I. Office of Energy Resources. It enables projects to take advantage of the first four bills, he said.
In a live webcast last month of ReNewable Now, an Arpin Broadcast Network Internet series dedicated to the “business side of green,” Chafee spoke vaguely on how he or the state would step up to the task of leading the renewable energy efforts.
“Does the state have to be the leader in investing in renewable energy, in changing your facilities to reduce energy use, and in changing [power generation] to solar or wind?” Peter Arpin, president and CEO of Arpin Van Lines, asked. And “how can the state step up in filling that void?”
“I think the citizens really want to participate,” Chafee responded, before discussing how excited the citizens of Warwick were when they got to recycle during his time as mayor there.
Arpin later told PBN he felt Chafee didn’t directly answer some of his questions in the interview.
“I’m not sure the state is as clear as they could be on what it will take to make the transformation … what their potential investment will be,” he said.
Dzykewicz, now president of ACDEnergy Group, an energy and project-development consultant based in Warwick, agrees with Arpin that there is no clear and concise plan from the governor himself on how he will position Rhode Island at the top of the renewable energy platform, as he claims.
“I have not seen or heard of any plan from the governor’s office to promote renewable energy in Rhode Island,” he said.
“If Rhode Island is serious about energy in general and renewable energy in particular, that office should be returned to a direct report to the governor, and staffed with an adequate number of people of appropriate backgrounds,” Dzykewicz said.
In response, Chafee’s office said he supports the bill establishing an advisory group and renewable energy board.
Payne says businesses are lauding the state’s new renewable energy laws.
“I have had people say to me, ‘This makes it worthwhile to have a business presence in Rhode Island,’ ” he said.
And Chew said the governor’s support of a diversified renewable energy plan – from bringing hydro plants, implementing single-stream recycling, regulating distributive generation, reducing delays in bringing wind turbines and restricting net metering to projects that use much of the power generated on site – will go further in lowering energy costs than what he saw as Carcieri’s narrow focus on wind farms.
And Chafee says proof of how high a priority renewable energy is to the state should be clear after his recent visit to Labrador, Canada, to tour a hydroelectric plant. The Canadian plant will produce renewable hydropower, which it wants to sell to parts of New England.
He said the state will continue to support businesses with the federal grants – such as the one awarded to Toray Plastics (America) Inc. in August to entice the company to expand in Rhode Island – from the Rhode Island Renewable Energy Fund.
Toray, located in North Kingstown, spends $20 million for power a year in the state and received $750,000 from the fund to build the state’s largest solar-energy array.
“I want Rhode Island to be a leader in the environmental initiatives,” Chafee said. “And that’s consistent with my past record as a mayor and as a senator.” •
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