By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff
This table sums up the findings of a new report on solar-energy
potential in Rhode Island. (Synapse Energy Economics)
Rhode Island may be small, but according to a new report, it has
room to generate lots of solar energy without sacrificing the state’s dwindling
green spaces.
A recent report by Cambridge, Mass.-based Synapse
Energy Economics Inc. concludes that Rhode Island can produce a
greater amount of electricity than it consumes by installing solar arrays on
more roofs, landfills, brownfields, gravel pits, and parking lots.
Open space advocates say the analysis, Solar Siting Opportunities for
Rhode Island, proves that woodlands, meadows, and farmland don’t
need to be cleared and covered to meet state renewable-energy objectives. As
such, the 83-page report excludes farmland, residential open spaces, and
state and municipal land from Rhode Island’s inventory of solar potential.
“The results are very encouraging and document it is possible to accommodate solar on developed and disturbed sites,” said Scott Millar, community manager for the sustainable development advocacy group Grow Smart Rhode Island.
Millar hopes the findings lead to more incentives to install solar
arrays on built environments.
“That should take the development pressure off our forestland,
which is critical to maintain for Rhode island to achieve our climate-change
goals,” Millar said.
According to the report, which was commissioned by state
officials, Rhode Island currently generates up to 198 megawatts of electricity
from 7,723 solar installations. Of those, some 7,500 solar systems are mounted
on residential structures across the state, producing 51 megawatts of power.
Ground-mounted solar arrays, however, deliver the most power, producing 74 megawatts of electricity from 163 facilities. Most of the report’s data is through November 2019, so newer systems aren’t included.
State renewable-energy incentives make it easier and more
profitable to build on large wooded parcels. In rural communities, this wave of
development is overwhelming planning departments
and triggering community outcry.
The Synapse report finds that the state has ample room on built
environments to expand its solar-energy generation. Already-developed sites
across the state can host between 3,390 megawatts and 7,340 megawatts of
renewable power, or about 13 to 30 times the amount currently installed in the
state.
This translates into 5,560 gigawatt-hours to 12,600 gigawatt-hours of
potential electricity production. Rhode Island’s annual wholesale electric load
is 7,826 gigawatt-hours of electricity.
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| There are 63 capped and uncapped landfills across 34 municipalities, but some are small. After applying large setbacks, only 33 remain as potential sites for solar installation. (Synapse Energy Economics) |
The bulk of this untapped energy, up to 4,600 megawatts, can be
reaped from ground-mounted solar arrays on parcels zoned as commercial and
industrial, according to the report.
Parking lot carports have the next greatest solar-energy
potential, with up to 1,060 megawatts of capacity.
Rooftops, both commercial and residential, have the potential to
produce about 850 megawatts of solar power.
Each city and town in Rhode Island can generate at least 3 megawatts of power from building rooftops.
The average solar-energy potential from rooftops in the state’s 39 municipalities is 22 megawatts, according to the report.
Each city and town in Rhode Island can generate at least 3 megawatts of power from building rooftops.
The average solar-energy potential from rooftops in the state’s 39 municipalities is 22 megawatts, according to the report.
Rhode Island has 19 capped landfills that have the aggregate
potential to generate 260 megawatts of electricity.
Twelve gravel pits have the cumulative energy potential of 90
megawatts of solar power.
Rhode Island has 250 brownfields that are suitable for
ground-mounted solar arrays and can be matched to an actual address. These
brownfields can deliver up to 650 megawatts of solar energy. Providence has the
most brownfields, and Charlestown has the most brownfield energy potential, at
170 megawatts.
Synapse acknowledged that the analysis is a satellite image rather
than a roadmap, as “all numbers provided in this report are intended to be
high-level, first-pass estimates.”
The study doesn’t consider solar-siting ordinances for each
municipality. But it does include technical elements for each site, such as
setbacks, shading, and potential costs. An affordability assessment measures
the median income for each city and town but those numbers are rough
calculations in cities like Providence where incomes vary greatly.
The report omits the drawbacks and opportunities for frontline and
environmental-justice communities. The Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources
(OER), which paid $83,000 for the report, said equity and environmental justice
are getting added scrutiny with the recent hiring of an energy-justice program manager.
It also noted that the expansion of community solar incentives is beginning to offer solar-power ownership to lower-income residents.
It also noted that the expansion of community solar incentives is beginning to offer solar-power ownership to lower-income residents.
A goal of the study is to help cities and towns craft rules that
make considerations for open space-friendly energy projects. To get there,
municipalities are encouraged to pass zoning rules that accommodate solar
building on these preferred sites.
Chris Kearns, OER’s interdepartmental project manager, said the
report aims to maximize the number of potential locations for solar so that
when municipalities adopt either first-time rules or make amendments to
existing ones “they avoid one-size-fits-all ordinances as it relates to
setbacks or lot coverage.”
Financial incentives for preferred sites are on the books in
Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont. So far, two state renewable-energy
programs, the Renewable Energy Fund
and the Renewable Energy Growth Program,
offer incentives for solar carport installations. Efforts in the General
Assembly to assist municipalities in writing responsible solar-siting
regulations have stalled. The latest bill, H7426, had its March 5
hearing postponed.
Mitigating global warming by reducing fossil-fuel consumption is
one of the primary reasons for renewable energy. The recent report finds that a
solar buildout in Rhode Island could prevent the release of up to 7.65 million
metric tons of greenhouses gas annually, or about 70 percent of Rhode Island’s
annual climate emissions.
Hank Webster, Rhode Island director for the Acadia Center, said policymakers should
enhance incentives to help property owners invest in solar and battery
technology to reduce demands on the grid, improve resiliency, and support
renewable-energy jobs.
“Renewable-energy investments, like rooftop solar, present a
tremendous opportunity for consumers and communities to take more control over
their energy costs,” Webster said. “With the gaining popularity of electric
vehicles and electric heat pumps, installing a solar and battery system could
enable customers to get all of their energy needs from the sun instead of
polluting fossil fuels we import from other states.”