The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) provides incentives for renewable-energy projects. Incentive programs are funded by the Rhode Island Renewable Energy Fund (RIREF) and alternative compliance payments (ACPs) from the state’s renewable portfolios standard (RPS). Currently, the RIEDC provides grants for small-scale solar projects and direct funding for commercial-scale renewable-energy projects.
Grants are available for photovoltaic systems up to 10 kilowatts (kW) in capacity and domestic solar water-heating systems with collectors up to 160 square feet. Systems may be installed on homes, businesses or affordable housing projects. Grants will provide 25% of project funding, with a maximum award of $10,000 per individual project. (Alternatively, a 50% low-interest loan of up to $20,000 is available per individual project.) The deadlines to submit complete applications are February 15, 2013; April 30, 2013; and July 26, 2013.
All projects must be “grouped” by the applicant. Eligible applicants are solar contractors, neighborhood associations, or another grouping mechanism approved by the RIEDC. Grouped solar projects must consist of at least three and at most 20 individual projects, and all projects proposed in a group must be PV projects or solar water-heating projects – not a mixture of both. Each individual project owner must have an energy audit scheduled or completed by the time the application is submitted.
The following requirements apply to each PV system proposed:
- A shade-analysis demonstrating no more than 20% predicted shading during the hours of one hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset.
- A layout drawing of project.
- A one-line electrical drawing.
- Project payback using assumptions stated in the program guidelines.
- Manufacturer’s specifications for panels and inverter to be installed.
- A photo of the project location taken from the south looking northward toward the building or site.
- An aerial image of the site from Microsoft Virtual Earth, Google Earth, or similar source with the building or site clearly identified.
The following requirements apply to each solar water-heating system proposed:
- A shade-analysis demonstrating no more than 20% shading during the hours of one hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset.
- A layout drawing of the project which illustrates at a minimum the placement of collectors and a plumbing schematic.
- A cross-section drawing of roof showing the size, spacing and rafter run.
- Project payback using assumptions stated in the program guidelines.
- Manufacturer’s specifications for collectors and tank to be installed.
- A photo of the project location taken from the south looking northward toward the building or site.
- An aerial image of the site from Microsoft Virtual Earth, Google Earth, or similar source with the building or site clearly identified.
