Governor Dan McKee, U.S. Senator Jack Reed, and the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources (OER) this month announced an additional $10 million in funding for the Public School Energy Equity Program, which will be used to make infrastructure improvements that will lead to healthier learning environments in the classroom and cost savings for school districts.

The energy efficiency funding is comprised of a $5 million federal earmark secured by Senator Reed from the U.S. Department of Energy and $5 million from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). This new federal funding will be combined with $10 million previously allocated through the RGGI funding to create a total program budget of $20 million that will be disbursed to schools across the state.

The Public School Energy Equity Program aims to provide technical and financial assistance to schools, helping them develop and implement energy efficiency projects that will lead to significant cost savings and improve the learning environment for students. Specifically, this additional funding will allow school districts to install building automation systems and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system upgrades, heat-pump water heaters, and upgraded lighting with controls.

The Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources (OER) staff will be present at this year's 73rd Annual Home Show and Energy Expo. OER's booth will be located on the Convention Center's second floor next to the escalators.

The show times are:

Thursday, March 30, 12 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Friday, March 31, 12 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Saturday, April 1, 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Sunday, April 2, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

OER staff will be available to answer all your questions about clean energy rebates and incentives!

Come by to learn from experts about energy saving solutions to help you reduce energy usage, save money and increase your comfort at home with innovative electric and sustainable technologies, while supporting the Ocean State’s natural resources, clean energy, and climate goals.

We’re excited to meet everyone in-person at the Home Show. Don’t miss this one-stop shop of energy efficiency programs, resources, and solutions to help you save energy and manage your gas and electric bills.

Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) is the first Rhode Island state agency to fully convert its lighting resources to energy-efficient LED lights. This conversion provides significant long-term energy savings. 

The project was a result of several years of collaboration between OER and RIDOT, as part of OER's State Agency LED Lighting Program. As of January 2023, all RIDOT lighting systems have been converted to LED lights with integrated controls, including the upgrade of 23 maintenance facilities and the retrofit of over 9,000 streetlights. Combined RIDOT will save over $1 million a year on electricity costs, and an estimated $14 million over the life of these more efficient lighting systems. It will also will save nearly 55,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. 

Rhode Island, with a coalition of New England states, jointly announced steps they are taking to pursue federal funding designed to encourage transmission infrastructure investment.  

By pursuing a regional approach, the states aim to optimize transmission infrastructure investments and provide benefits, including cost savings and winter reliability, for residents and businesses across all New England. New England states have unique winter energy security and reliability risks, relying on natural gas to generate nearly half of their electricity needs while sitting at the end of an often-constrained natural gas pipeline system. The states are therefore interested in transmission investments that:  

• reduce the region’s reliance on imported fossil fuels in winter months 
• help insulate electricity customers from the wild swings in the fossil fuel markets currently leading to high electricity prices throughout New England 
• take advantage of diverse energy sources 



The proposed partnership between states, transmission providers, and wind developers, working closely with the New England grid operator, would proactively plan, identify, and select a portfolio of transmission projects needed to unlock the region’s significant offshore wind potential, improve grid reliability and resiliency, and invest in job growth and quality.

The Newport Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) is located along the J.T. Connell Highway, about 1,000 feet inland from the Newport coast. The Newport facility serves 41,600 customers and treats an average of 8.4 million gallons of wastewater per day. Newport’s system also treats stormwater runoff during rain events with a capacity up to 19.7 million gallons per day. 

The Newport WWTF recently completed a renewable energy project. It installed four roof mounted solar systems, two carports, and one ground mounted solar farm. All these systems were interconnected in 2020. 

The project totaled 790 solar panels with an estimated annual energy savings of 328,000 kWh annually. This is enough energy to power 55 homes in Rhode Island. 

RIHousing, the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources (OER) and Rhode Island Energy (RIE) released a Request for Proposals (RFP) on March 15 for the 2023 Zero Energy for the Ocean State (ZEOS) Program. This program offers up to $500,000 in grants to design and construct affordable, energy efficient housing to serve low- and moderate-income Rhode Islanders. 

This program is the result of a public-private partnership between RIHousing, OER, and RIE to stimulate innovative, replicable solutions that utilize cost saving and clean energy technologies in homes. Program partners are seeking proposals from qualified teams to design and construct affordable, energy efficient Zero Energy Buildings (ZEBs) that use technologies such as solar, air-source heat pumps and encourage use of systems to reduce energy consumption during peak demand.

Greg Ohadoma joined OER recently as our Energy Justice Manger responsible for ensuring OER programs are equitable, accessible and inclusive. We are thrilled to welcome him to our team and asked him to introduce himself to our readers. 

Please tell us about your background.

I have experience in both energy policy and outreach. Before joining the office I worked with the Northeast Clean Energy Council, Green Energy Consumers Alliance, RISE Engineering and have interned with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.

Continue reading.