National Grid Rhode Island is currently procuring applications for standard contracts from eligible Distributed Generation projects. The enrollment started on December 1, 2011 at 9am EPT, and will close on December 14, 2011 at 5pm EPT. The contracts will last for 15 years, and will cover a total of 5MW of capacity, with 1.5 MW allocated to wind and 3.5 to solar in the following distribution and ceiling price.

In order to be eligible for this procurement, systems must

• Be an electric generation unit that uses exclusively an eligible renewable energy resource (as defined under R.I.G.L S39-26-5  and section 5 of the rules and regulations governing the implementation of a renewable energy standard)
• Neither have begun operations, nor completed financing for construction
• Be located in the Narragansett Electric Company ISO-NE load zone
• Not have a nameplate capacity greater than 5MW
• Be connected to the electric distribution company’s power system.

In addition, project owners must have submitted an Interconnection application and have a completed Feasibility or Impact study as defined in the Rhode Island Distributed Generation Interconnection Act and The Narragansett Electric Company Standards for Connecting Distributed Generation.

A performance guarantee deposit will have to be paid at the time of execution of the contract. It will be assessed based on $15.00 per REC for small distributed generation projects (<500kW), and $25 per REC for large distributed generation projects (>500kW) estimated to be generated per year. The total sum will be no lower than $500 and not more than $75,000. Should the distributed generation facility not produce the output proposed in its enrollment application within (18) months of contract execution, the contract will be voided automatically, and the performance guarantee deposit forfeited.

For facilities that are also being employed for net metering, a proposal may be submitted to sell the excess output from the project. In this case, the class in which the project belongs is determined by total project size, not the excess output offered.

The project must obtain qualification as a renewable resource as per Rhode Island’s Renewable Energy Standard, and must register with NEPOOL-GIS. Once qualified, National Grid must be designated to receive all the RECs produced by the project through NEPOOL-GIS.

More information and the application forms can be found on the National Grid Procurement Website.