RPS Rhode Island
(Last updated July 19th, 2004)

RENEWABLE PORTFOLIO STANDARDS—STATE SUMMARY

I. POLICY
II. ADMINISTRATION
III. FINANCING
IV. CRITICAL ELEMENTS
V. POLICY/PROGRAM ASSESSMENT
VI. PUBLIC OUTREACH AND EDUCATION


I. POLICY

Date Enacted
June 29, 2004

Effective Date
January 1, 2007

Time Period
2007-2019 and later

Extensions to Time Period
For 2010 and again for 2014, the commision can delay the schedule by one year if it decides that renewable energy supplies are inadequate to meet the increase in percentage requirement.

Applicable Laws, Orders, and Regulations
Relating to Public Utilities and Carriers -- Renewable Energy Standard

House Bill No. 7375
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Billtext/BillText04/HouseText04/H7375Aaa.pdf

Senate Bill No. 2082
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Billtext/BillText04/SenateText04/S2082A.pdf

Description
Rhode Island's renewable energy standard begins in 2007 with 3% of total retail sales from renewables, and escalates to 16% by 2019 and after. Purchasing and trading of renewable generation certificates is available through the New England Generation Information System (NE-GIS) run by NEPOOL. Suppliers may also fulfill their obligation by making alternative compliance payments to a Renewable Energy Development Fund, which will then purchase NE-GIS certificates. Details of reporting and sanctioning are yet to be worked out, but are required from the public utility commission before December 31, 2005.

Program Name
Renewable Energy Standard

Standard

Compliance Year	Minimum Percent Renewable Generation
2007	3.0
2008	3.5
2009	4.0
2010	4.5
2011	5.5
2012	6.5
2013	7.5
2014	8.5
2015	10.0
2016	11.5
2017	13.0
2018	14.5
2019	16.0

Eligibility Date
Renewable generation units that entered service before December 31, 1997 may not account for more than 2% of total retail electricity sales.

Generation Limit
Hydroelectric power is limited to less than 30 MW to qualify. Other technologies have no generation limits.

Incremental Capacity
Incremental output increases of more than 10% since 1997 are eligible to count towards minimum renewable percentages. However, increased hydropower capacity may not involve any new impoundment or diversion of fresh water (less than twenty parts per thousand salinity).

Fuels/Technologies

• Solar


• Wind


• Ocean thermal, tides, or waves.
• Geothermal
• Hydroelectric less than 30 MW capacity
• Eligible Biomass, which includes:
• Brush, stumps, lumber trimmings, wood pallets, bark, wood chips, shavings, slash, and other clean wood
• Agricultural wastes
• Food and vegetative material
• Energy crops
• Landfill methane
• Biogas
• Neat bio-diesel and other neat liquid fuels
• Fuel cells using the renewable sources defined above

Note: Waste-to-energy combustion of any kind is explicity excluded.

II. ADMINISTRATION

Administering Entities
Rhode Island Public Utilities Commision
Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation

Type of Entity
State

Administrative Contacts

Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission
89 Jefferson Blvd.
Warwick, RI 02888
Phone: (401)941-4500
Website: http://www.ripuc.org/

Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation
One West Exchange Street
Providence, Rhode Island 02903
Phone: (401) 222-2601
Website: http://www.riedc.com/

III. FINANCING

Funding Level
No funding is explicitly specified.

Funding Source
The PUC will authorize electric utilities to recover costs through rate changes, regardless of whether that cost comes from actual renewable generation or from purchase of certificates or payment of compliance fees. In addition, Rhode Island has created a Systems Benefit Charge (SBC) dedicated to supporting renewable energy, the funding from which will be managed by the state energy office. The state energy office is directed to collaborate with the commission to ensure that the SBC and the Renewable Energy Development Fund are coordinated for maximum combined benefit and efficiency.

Cost Cap
No cost cap is specified.

Charge
Costs to be recovered through utility rate base.

IV. CRITICAL ELEMENTS

Trading
Renewable generation certificates are traded through a market-priced, bid-based power exchange system, the New England Power Pool (NEPOOL) Generation Information System. See http://www.nepoolgis.com for more information.

Green Pricing
The renewable energy percentages shall be met for each electrical energy product offered to end-use customers, in a manner that ensures that the amount of renewable energy of end-use customers voluntarily purchasing renewable energy is not counted toward meeting such percentages.

Certification
The New England Generation Information System (NE-GIS), which includes a generation information database and certificate sytem, operated by the New England Power Pool, accounts for Generation Attributes of electrical energy consumed within New England, including Rhode Island. NE-GIS Certificates produced by the NE-GIS identify the relevant Generation Attributes of each MWh accounted for in the NE-GIS.

Out-of-State
Certificates from any state within the NEPOOL control area are eligible. Generation units outside of NEPOOL are also eligible, however, only the fraction of power actually delivered into Rhode Island may be counted as fulfilling the renewable obligation.

Self-generation
Customer-sited and off-grid generators using eligible renewable energy resources accrue NE-GIS certificates in the same manner as electric suppliers.

Flexibility

Banked Compliance
The PUC will establish mechanisms allowing electric suppliers to bank excess compliance for 2 years, up to 30% of the current year's obligation. Generation from compliance year 2006 may be banked for use in 2007, the first year of obligation.

Alternative Compliance
Suppliers may discharge their obligation by paying an alternative compliance fee of $50 per MWh of renewable generation shortfall. A Renewable Energy Development Fund will accept the alternative compliance fees and use them to purchase NE-GIS certificates on behalf of the electric suppliers. The fund must assess the cost of the NE-GIS certificates to the entities receiving them, if this cost is above the alternative compliance fees paid.

Contracts
Standards for contracts and procurement plans for renewable energy resources will be established by the commission prior to December 31, 2005.

V. POLICY/PROGRAM ASSESSMENT

Reporting Requirement
Annual compliance filings are to be made to the commission within one month after NE-GIS reports are avilable for the fourth quarter of each calendar year.

Sanctions
The commission will establish by Dec. 31, 2005 sanctions for suppliers that fail to comply with regulations. The sanctions may not diminish any liability of a supplier for fulfilling any shortfall in compliance. Financial penalties resulting from sanctions shall not be recoverable in rates.

Assessing Entity
Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission

Report Date
To be determined.

Report Name
Not yet available.

Status
The PUC must develop and adopt regulations before December 31, 2005 to spell out the mechanisms of reporting and verification, standards for contracts for renewable resources, and the details of the banked compliance mechanism. Sanctions for failure to comply with the commissions regulations also have to be worked out by this date.

Cost Information
As the legislation has yet to be implemented, cost information is still unavailable.

Assessment Contact
Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission
89 Jefferson Blvd.
Warwick, RI 02888
Phone: (401)941-4500
Website: http://www.ripuc.org/

VI. PUBLIC OUTREACH AND EDUCATION

Outreach/Customer Education
http://www.ripuc.org/energy/index.html

Press Releases
http://www.ripuc.org/news/index.html