Politics & Government
What Renewable Energies Will Work Here?
Residents invited to Oct. 6 RESP stakeholder meeting to learn more about sun, wind and water energy in Rhode Island – and Oct.20, there's a field trip!
North Kingstown Planning Director Jon Reiner says he was “very happy” with the debut of the state’s Renewable Energy Siting Partnership initiative and expects it to help town officials as they grapple with proposals for wind energy and other renewable energy projects.
The RESP process is designed to develop science-based statewide guidelines for where renewable energy projects are appropriate and how they should be developed. Reiner said town staffers plan to participate in future meetings of the partnership’s municipal working group.
RESP also plans to hold working groups meetings for wind energy developers.
Find out what's happening in North Kingstownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
About 80 individuals, from officials and developers to homeowners and scientists, attended the first RESP Sept. 15 at the University of Rhode Island Narragansett Campus. They asked a lot of questions of the assembled academics, and volunteered ideas.
URI’s Rhode Island Sea Grant is leading the partnership, and Coastal Programs Leader Jennifer McCann facilitated the session.
Kenneth Payne of the state Office of Energy Resources, which funds the partnership, provided an overview of the process, which he expects to be completed in March 2012.
Find out what's happening in North Kingstownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Governor Lincoln Chafee, like many elected officials, encourages the growth of renewable energy, Payne noted, and local utilities are gearing up to accept it. But, local planners and councils will have to decide what gets built, where and how.
RESP will gather data and citizen input on the possibility of hydroelectric power from Rhode Island’s many dams and solar power, especially at closed landfills and brownfield sites, as well as land-based wind energy.
For wind energy, the partnership will assess the latest studies on wind data; acoustic and flicker field questions; potential electromagnetic field interference on communications; and the effect of turbines on birds, bats and other wildlife, among other issues.
A year ago, when North Kingstown drafted its first wind ordinance – – “there were problems digesting the breadth of scientific information,” on these topics Reiner recalls. Having experts evaluate the wide range of data and apply it specifically to Rhode Island’s needs will be very helpful, Reiner says. “It is great to see this process.”
RESP aims to create a website with data, mapping tools and other resources to help local officials make fact-based decisions on renewable energy proposals in their communities.
The next stakeholders meeting, open to anyone interested, will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4, at in the Hazard rooms at the URI Coastal Institute building, 215 South Ferry Rd, Narragansett, RI, 02882.
For anyone interested in getting up close and personal with a working wind turbine, RESP also offers a field trip to the New England Institute of Technology (http://www.neit.edu/ turbine in Warwick at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20.
To register for the field trip or to get more information, contact project managers Teresa Crean, tcrean@crc.uri.edu, 874-6626, or Danny Musher, dannymusher@uri.edu, 874-5705.
