Office of Energy Resources pays Mass. firm $83K to assess putting panels in areas across R.I.

PROVIDENCE — With debate swirling about the development of solar projects in woods, farm fields and other green spaces, the state is setting out to determine how much power can be generated by instead installing more photovoltaic panels on rooftops and in commercial and industrial areas.

The Office of Energy Resources is paying Synapse Energy Economics $83,000 to conduct an analysis of the total solar potential for so-called “non-greenfield” sites and summarize what other states have done to balance solar development with other land uses.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based consulting firm will use satellite maps and other geographic information, as well as interviews with solar companies, to pinpoint potential areas for projects, costs of development and associated reductions in planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

The report that is set to be completed next March will look at all rooftops (on residential, commercial, industrial and government buildings), closed landfills and gravel pits, disused industrial sites and parking lots (where solar canopies could be erected).

Synapse will whittle down the list of possible sites by looking at such issues as shading from trees or buildings, the angle and orientation of a roof, whether a landfill has been capped and the slope of a gravel pit.

For rooftop solar, the analysts at Synapse will go a step further, cross-checking the geographic data with Census information on income to figure out whether a building owner can afford to install panels, Patrick Knight, principal associate with Synapse said at a recent stakeholder meeting.

The study comes at a time when residents in communities like Hopkinton and Coventry have banded together to oppose large solar installations on rural lands that often require tree-clearing. They argue that the state should direct solar projects to already-developed areas, whether through incentives or restrictions, so as to protect Rhode Island’s green spaces.

The state energy office decided to fund the study after comprehensive legislation that aimed to guide solar development failed in the most recent General Assembly session, said Chris Kearns, project manager with the office.

Not everyone is on board with the design of the study, which will not include the type of big solar development that has generated controversy over the past two or three years. Those projects, like the 21.5-megawatt array in western Cranston built by Southern Sky Renewable Energy last year, use panels mounted on the ground. They generally occupy previously-undeveloped lands that are cheaper to build on than brownfields sites and can hold more solar panels.

At the meeting on the study, renewable energy developer Fred Unger said that the parameters seem to be aimed at discouraging ground-mounted solar.

“We’re not discouraging,” Kearns responded. “These are the areas that got the most interest.”

Unger, founder of Providence-based Heartwood Group, countered, “I see it as potentially detrimental to the industry and, quite frankly, to the environment.”

Erika Niedowski, Rhode Island director of the Acadia Center, a clean energy advocacy group, asked Knight if the Synapse analysis can be used to help reach state targets for cutting down on carbon emissions.

“This is information that can be used as a roadmap to get to those reductions,” Knight said.

akuffner@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7457