Carcieri also called a guaranteed set-aside for solar energy projects “perhaps the most troubling provision of this legislation . . . The requirement to mandate 5MW [megawatts] of solar energy could cost ratepayers tens of millions of dollars more than other sources of renewable energy, not even accounting for the three percent bonus to the local distribution company. The General Assembly should not impose such an onerous burden on the hundreds of thousands of Rhode Island ratepayers by including this provision in this piece of legislation.
Proponents of the bill — who were taken by surprise by the veto, considering how Andrew Dzykewicz, the governor’s energy adviser, had testified in favor of the measure — see the situation very differently.
Bill Fischer, a spokesman for Allco Renewable Energy, calls subsidies a necessary part of moving forward state-based efforts for renewable energy, and Rhode Island stands to be left behind, he says, in the region. Fischer points to efforts in Connecticut, where that state is offering $70 million in solar rebates over the next two years, and in Massachusetts, when Governor Deval Patrick recently announced the opening of a solar manufacturing plant in Westboro that is expected to create 375 jobs.
“This was well thought-out legislation that would have created renewable energy projects in Rhode Island and, more importantly, the beginnings of a green job sector,” Fischer says. “Developers do not want to go into states that are hostile toward renewable development or states that don’t have sufficient laws on their books embracing development. Carcieri’s veto set Rhode Island back.”