By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI.org
News staff
PROVIDENCE — The Rhode
Island Renewable Energy Coordinating Board recently expressed its commitment to
wind energy despite recent setbacks for wind projects across the state.
Marion Gold, a board
director and recently hired administrator for the Office of Energy Resources,
reaffirmed her support for renewable energy projects at the committee’s Aug. 29
meeting. She touted the new state and federal agency database rienergy.org,
which she helped create during her previous job at the University of Rhode
Island, to serve as a “global knowledge center” for wind, solar, hydropower and
energy-efficiency programs.
Several new guidelines
and services for wind turbines are being finalized just as wind energy is
facing growing opposition across the state. Jamestown and Westerly ceased wind
turbine projects after spending years and tens of thousands of dollars on
proposals that indicated economic viability.
Proponents of the
projects say the proposals were defeated by the implosion of the state Economic
Development Corporation (EDC) at the hands of the 38 Studios debacle. The EDC,
through its renewable energy fund, spent $140,000 on the Jamestown turbine
proposal.
The shutdown of the
Portsmouth High School turbine, which faces estimated repair costs of at least
$400,000, also factored into the termination of the Jamestown project,
according to Jamestown Town Council Vice President Robert Bowen. The Town
Council, he said, was “getting a lot of flack that this is too risky for the
town.”
Not all of the
opposition has been aimed at municipal wind projects, however. The
five-turbine, 30-megawatt Deepwater Wind project off Block Island has been hit
with a recent complaint from longtime wind energy
antagonist Benjamin Riggs Jr. The Newport
resident, a former manufacturing executive, said the deal between Deepwater and
National Grid is a violation of the Commerce Clause, which is part of the
Constitution. Riggs also opposes the project over higher costs for electricity
users.
“When people realize
that this isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, they begin to ask, ‘Do (we) really
want this in our backyard and in our oceans?'" Riggs said.
Riggs also is planning
to join forces with an unnamed group in Bristol to challenge the East Bay Energy
Consortium, a committee of nine cities and towns aiming to
collectively reduce municipal energy costs. Its current project, a proposed 5-
to 10-turbine wind farm in Tiverton, drew opposition from small but vocal
groups, such as Ocean State Tea Party in Action, which is opposed to publicly
funded wind turbines.
Yet, Gold said
economic development is the “No. 1 objective” for the Renewable Energy
Coordinating Board and its many partner
organizations. The board faces the challenge of parsing 23 state
statutes related to renewable energy then offering recommendations to the
General Assembly on how they can work together.
New incentives need to
be in place, Gold said, much like those in Connecticut and Massachusetts to
help advance non-utility renewable energy projects. Rhode Island dropped its
tax credit two years ago, but offers a series of other tax breaks, loans and
grants for wind, solar and hydro projections. In 2011, the state adopted its
landmark distributed generation standards legislation that offered reliable
pricing for new renewable energy production.
Solar expert and green
building designer Bob Chew, an advisory member of the Renewable Energy
Coordinating Board, questioned previous economic promises for the
"green" economy. He cited the lack of new jobs and business promised
by those advocating for larger wind projects. He said former Gov. Donald
Carcieri, who backed Deepwater Wind and promoted a yet-to-be-realized green
infrastructure sector at the Quonset Point Industrial Park, deserves much of
the blame for the state of Rhode Island's environmental sector.
“He was just as wrong
with 38 Studios and with offshore wind when it comes to job creation,” Chew
said.
Chew favors incentives
for smaller residential and commercial wind and solar installers and
developers, rather than pushing for singular big proposals that become easy
targets for opponents. “When you blow $100 million on one project there’s not
the climate to fund the other startups,” he said.
Janet Coit, director
of the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and a principal
member of the Renewable Energy Coordinating Board, said opposition to wind
turbines has caused her to “watch, wonder and worry that we’re sending a signal
we don’t want to send.”
The DEM met little
resistance to a 155-foot-high turbine it installed at Fishermen’s Memorial
State Park in Narragansett and other renewable projects at state parks, Coit
said. “Wind turbines can be fitting in a coastal setting and something to be
proud of," she said.
Excessive caution
about local renewable energy projects, she said, stand in the way of meeting
the overall goals of reducing energy consumption and cutting carbon emissions.
As Gold gets started
as the state’s top energy planner — her appointment still needs approval from
the Senate — many of the state’s agencies and energy organizations will develop
a cohesive and comprehensive renewable energy plan with input from all energy
sectors. But with the current victories by opponents of wind power, Gold said,
“I think it’s time for a thoughtful pause.”
Natural gas and other fossil fuels will be
fixtures in the state’s energy mix, but creating reliable, secure
environmentally sound energy is still possible, she said.