Rhode Island General Laws Title 39. Public Utilities and Carriers § 39-26.1-2. Definitions

(1) “Commercially reasonable” means terms and pricing that are reasonably consistent with what an experienced power market analyst would expect to see in transactions involving newly developed renewable energy resources. Commercially reasonable shall include having a credible project operation date, as determined by the commission, but a project need not have completed the requisite permitting process to be considered commercially reasonable. If there is a dispute about whether any terms or pricing are commercially reasonable, the commission shall make the final determination after evidentiary hearings;

(2) “Commission” means the Rhode Island public utilities commission;

(3) “Electric distribution company” means a company defined in § 39-1-2, supplying standard-offer service, last-resort service, or any successor service to end-use customers, but not including the Block Island Power Company or the Pascoag Utility District;

(4) “Eligible renewable energy resource” means resources as defined in § 39-26-5 and any references therein;

(5) “Long-term contract” means a contract of not less than ten (10) years;

(6) “Minimum long-term contract capacity” means ninety megawatts (90 MW) of which three megawatts (3 MW) must be solar or photovoltaic projects located in the state of Rhode Island. In determining whether the minimum long-term contract capacity has been reached, the capacity under contract shall be adjusted by the capacity factor of each renewable generator as determined by the ISO-NE rules, as they may change from time to time. By way of example, a contract with a one hundred (100) megawatt facility with a thirty percent (30%) capacity factor would be counted as providing thirty megawatts (30 MW) to the minimum long-term contract capacity requirement.

(7) “Newly developed renewable energy resources” means electrical generation units that use exclusively an eligible renewable energy resource, and that have neither begun operation, nor have the developers of the units implemented investment or lending agreements necessary to finance the construction of the unit; provided, however, that any projects using eligible renewable energy resources and located within the state of Rhode Island which obtain project financing on or after January 1, 2009, shall qualify as newly developed renewable energy resources for purposes of the first solicitation under this chapter;