Addressing Environmental Externalities: The Role of the Public Utilities Commission in Rhode Island's Transition to Renewable Energy

Abstract

In 2015, citing the need for more reliable and clean energy, Rhode Island officials announced plans to build a natural gas power plant in Burrillville. The plant, Invenergy’s Clear River Energy Center (hereafter CREC), would be able to produce up to 1000 megawatts to be distributed throughout New England. However, the plant has sparked significant controversy among local residents, environmental groups, and politicians (Kuffner 2015). Proponents of CREC, including Governor Gina Raimondo, argue that the power plant is essential to supplement supply lost when Vermont Yankee went off-line and to meet the electricity demands of Rhode Islanders and New Englanders while keeping energy prices affordable (Kuffner 2016). Opponents of the power plant say that the construction of this power plant will make the State’s environmental goals impossible to meet (Roberts 2016).