Senate leaders banded for the second time in a week to unveil bipartisan legislation, this time aimed at increasing the development and use of renewable energy throughout the state. ...the bill could fix a problem holding back green energy projects here: a lack of big buyers. Before building an offshore wind farm, for example, developers must convince potential investors that a major customer with money will buy the power over a long period. Lawmakers want National Grid, the state's dominant electricity distributor, to fill the role. The company supports the bill. ...The bill would excuse National Grid from signing contracts it considers "commercially unreasonable," a term that lawmakers defined only vaguely. Ryan said he could not say what contracts National Grid might reject without seeing a specific developer proposal.

Seven developers, one as far away as Houston, have submitted proposals to build an offshore wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island. Yesterday was the deadline for private developers to respond to the state's "request for proposals" that sought bids to finance, construct and operate a wind farm big enough to supply 15 percent of the state's electricity usage. ...It was unclear up until yesterday's deadline how many companies would make proposals, he said. There were 64 firms that registered their names with the state in order to download information about submitting a proposal, according to a list provided by Moynihan. The seven bids were not received until Thursday and yesterday.

Allco Renewable Energy Group made official its plans to develop up to four offshore wind projects in Rhode Island at sites including two south of Little Compton. Although it filed preliminary applications with the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council on Nov. 21, the firm did not publicly announce its intentions until Monday, Nov. 26. ...Four of the permit applications submitted to the CRMC request permission to place meteorological masts in four of the offshore districts identified in the governor's wind siting study. The masts would analyze winds strengths for at least a year and a half before. The other four permit applications submitted relate to the actual building of wind projects in each of those areas.

A storm is gathering over the ocean. Thursday, more than 200 people attended a public hearing in Providence on ocean policy. Almost all who testified praised the interim report of the President Barack Obama's Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, but their recommendations for regulation of the United States coastline varied widely. ...Perhaps the interim report's most far-reaching recommendation is for an "ecosystem based approach." Martha's Vineyard selectman Warren Doty noted that approach was not in evidence at a recent meeting of the National Marine Fisheries Council.

Legislation submitted to the R.I. General Assembly by Gov. Donald L. Carcieri would create a R.I. Power Authority to spearhead the development of renewable energy sources and ensure that Rhode Islanders are the primary beneficiaries of whatever electricity is produced. The bill, sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere, R-Westerly, and co-sponsored by Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano, D-North Providence, is to be heard tomorrow (Thursday, May 3) by the Senate Corporations Committee.

WORCESTER— Absent interest in lower-priced fuels, New Englanders should brace for continued high electricity prices, the byproduct of a regional system heavily dependent on oil, natural gas and coal, the head of the region’s power grid said yesterday.

...Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri's pledge nearly two years ago to bring wind power to a state where there is just one operating wind turbine. His goal was to get 15% of the state's electrical power from wind by 2011 - which would require about 100 turbines. Several major challenges now stand in the way of the small state's big plans. Among them: No one has decided where to put a wind farm, it's not clear how the project will be paid for, and public opposition - a major wild card - is unknown, according to Carcieri's top energy adviser, Andrew Dzykewicz. ...No other state has built an offshore wind farm, forcing Rhode Island's government to invent the process nearly from scratch. One of the state's main environmental regulatory bodies, the Coastal Resources Management Council, has not even decided what it requires from prospective wind power developers.

Rhode Island's congressional delegation met with Governor Carcieri and other officials on Friday for a briefing on the progress of two wind farms being proposed in state coastal waters. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed and Representatives Patrick J. Kennedy and James R. Langevin were at the closed-door meeting at the State House to discuss regulatory issues surrounding the proposals.

The governor's office said the state would "use its best efforts" to expedite the permitting process and assure a long-term contract for energy produced by the facility. The companies that submitted bids were: Allco Renewable Energy Group Limited LLC, New York, N.Y.; Bluewater Wind LLC, Providence; Deep Water Wind Rhode Island LLC, Hoboken, N.J.; DKRW Wind LLC, Houston; Fishermen's Energy of Rhode Island, Bristol; Great Eastern Wind LLC, Providence; and WindPowerpro.us, Woodbridge, N.J. Four of the five members of the wind farm selection team -- Dzykewicz, Ahern, Kaplan and Long -- were either appointed to their state positions by the governor, or they work for someone who was appointed by him. None of the five appears to have specific expertise in wind energy.

Such a project would require an estimated 105 wind turbines, making it about the size of the proposed Cape Wind project off Cape Cod. The proposal would meet Carcieri's goal of securing 15 percent of the state's energy needs through clean-energy sources. But questions remained after his 1 p.m. news conference about the cost of the project and its time-frame. ...The governor's plan appears at odds with a proposal by the staff of the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council - the state agency charged with permitting projects in state waters - for a one-year moratorium on development proposals.

In his veto message this morning, Carcieri wrote: "It is with much regret that I find it necessary to veto this legislation. "Renewable energy has great potential for powering our homes and businesses as well as our economy. Rhode Island is poised to be a pioneer in emerging technologies of wind and wave energy, and I'm confident that in due time, we will fulfill my goal of securing at least 20 percent of our energy from renewable resources." But, he added, "unfortunately, I believe the legislation before me today fails to balance our desire to invest in renewable energy with the realities that rate-payers currently endure." ...The environmental community also reacted with disappointment to the veto.

A New York-based investment firm that caught state officials off guard last fall with a proposal to build up to 338 wind turbines in Rhode Island waters now says it wants to pay for a meteorological tower needed to draft zoning regulations for development of a wind farm. The proposal was made public last week at a hearing during which R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council - the state agency that regulates Rhode Island's waters voted unanimously to put off a decision about placing a one-year moratorium on all offshore alternative energy projects, something the agency's staff proposed following the New York firm's surprise wind-farm application. ...Gov. Donald L. Carcieri's ambitious goal to produce a minimum of 15 percent of Rhode Island's energy needs through the development of wind-, wave- and solar-energy sources by 2011 is almost certainly not going to happen.

Gov. Donald L. Carcieri today called on the R.I. Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to force National Grid, the state's major power company, to sign long-term contracts to buy electricity from renewable energy generators. One of the PUC's mandates is to keep ratepayers' costs as low as possible. In a letter sent to the three commissioners today, the governor argued that requiring the dominant utility to buy renewable energy will provide market incentives for new power sources that will reduce electricity costs in the long run.

PROVIDENCE -- Governor Carcieri yesterday announced an ambitious plan to supply 15 percent of the state's total electricity demand with wind power, and he named his choice to fill the new position of energy adviser.

After briefly wavering, Governor M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut yesterday agreed to sign onto a multistate greenhouse gas pact that Massachusetts and Rhode Island rejected Wednesday.

The agency that regulates Rhode Island's coastline has proposed a one-year moratorium on wind farms and wave generators in the state's coastal waters so it can develop a special management plan that will determine where such projects will be allowed. Governor Carcieri and two environmental groups are opposing the moratorium. Yesterday, Jeff Neal, Carcieri's spokesman, said he's concerned the decision will slow the state's progress toward developing renewable energy sources. A moratorium, he said, would also send the wrong signal and might scare off potential proposals. "Governor Carcieri wants to remain out front developing wind and wave energy sources," Neal said. "He doesn't believe a moratorium will be helpful."

In the wake of last week's National Grid filing with the state Public Utilities Commission, Deepwater Wind executives are hoping for more time at the bargaining table. Last Thursday National Grid recommended the PUC to turn down a power purchase agreement (PPA) proposed by Deepwater for an eight-turbine wind farm within three miles of Block Island. According to National Grid, Deepwater was asking 30.7 cents per kilowatt-hour for its electricity, when the average cost for wholesale electricity is about 9 cents. It called the proposal "commercially unreasonable."

Legislators in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic passed a number of bills applying to the electric power industry, with several states committing to emissions reductions through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and other states making broad organizational changes to their regulatory processes.

After 10 months of work, the Committee for Renewable Energy for Barrington (CREB) has recommended the town accept a bid to install a 600 kilowatt wind turbine generator at the Legion Way site. The town council is saddled with the final decision - whether to follow the CREB recommendation and award the bid for the work to Lumus Construction Inc. ...The recommendation report goes into detail, explaining specifics about the proposed project. The council was scheduled to hear from CREB members at Monday night's meeting and were expecting some other vocal residents to attend also.

Under the agreement, ISO New England will project regional power needs three years in advance and hold annual auctions to buy power resources, including new and existing power plants. Incentives would encourage private operators to respond to power system emergencies, and operators that don't make extra capacity available would face penalties.