The Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources (OER) and the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation's Renewable Energy Fund (REF) launched a Request for Proposals (RFP) on December 29, 2022 to select a private sector partner that will deploy solar on low- and moderate-income (LMI) single family homes. Rhode Island OER and REF will evaluate proposals from qualified firms to offer solar leases and/or solar power purchase agreements to LMI homeowners in a new Rhode Island Affordable Solar Access Pathways program.
The Affordable Solar Access Pathways program is a no-money down third-party ownership program entirely focused on benefiting LMI families and will be the nation's first state solar RFP launched under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)'s new tax regime. The solar company selected as the state's partner will make use of the IRA's new environmental justice adders to the Investment Tax Credit (ITC), receive upfront incentives with innovative sharing mechanisms, receive marketing assistance from REF and OER, and establish itself as a trusted state partner in Rhode Island.
"We believe the Affordable Solar Access Pathways program is an excellent way for solar companies to get their feet wet using the IRA's new ITC adders, and an opportunity to do so with flexible and responsive state partners who are keenly interested in developing a long-term partnership across the region to better serve LMI communities and grow solar in New England," said Vero Bourg Meyer, CESA's Project Director for Solar and Offshore Wind.
Rhode Island OER and the REF are both members of the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA). This program was developed with support from CESA as part of the Scaling-Up Solar for Under-Resourced Communities project under the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office Award Number DE-EE0008758.
More information about innovative program features is available here
