Renewable Energy Fund

Your browser is not supported for this experience. We recommend using Safari. Skip navigation Share Renewable Energy Fund About REF The Rhode Island Commerce Renewable Energy Fund (REF) supports the growth of renewable energy across Rhode Island, helping businesses and communities access cost-effective, sustainable energy solutions. REF provides renewable energy grants for projects that generate cleaner electricity while supporting job growth in the green technology and energy sectors. Funded through the system benefit charge on electric bills and alternative compliance payments from electricity providers, REF invests in Small Scale solar, Commercial Scale, and Community Renewable energy projects throughout Rhode Island. Grant Rounds Rounds Small Scale Commercial Scale 26-1 May 1 st 2026 May 1 st 2026 26-2 July 17th, 2026 July 31st, 2026 26-3 October 16 th 2026 October 23 rd 2026 Homeowner Resources RI offers two solar PV incentive programs: The Renewable Energy Fund (REF) and The Renewable Energy Growth Program (REG). REG  is run by Rhode Island Energy and is a fixed 15-20 year long term contract with a fixed electricity price and a solar PV production-based incentive (PBI). This means you will receive credits on your bill up to the amount you owe, and any excess generation is compensated to you in the form of a direct deposit. The ceiling price for the REG program this year is depending on the project size and term, and Rhode Island Energy will pay either 33.85 or 32.35 cents/kWh. You can learn more about the program by visiting  https://energy.ri.gov/renewable-energy/wind/renewable-energy-growth-program-reg-program . REF is run by RI Commerce Corporation. This is a grant program that offers an incentive to discount the upfront cost of a net metered system. Our program CAN NOT BE PAIRED with the Renewable Energy Growth Program administered through National Grid. A Simplified Process: Choose a solar installer for your residential solar system. The installer applies for the Renewable Energy Fund Grant on your behalf. The REF team reviews the application, making sure the project meets all requirements. If applicable, an Award Letter is created and sent to the installer. The installer is required to send the documents listed on the Award Letter to REF, once documentation requirements are reached, a Grant Agreement is created. The Grant Agreement is a legal binding document stating that the funds for your project have been allocated. The project is installed on your home and interconnected. Once installation is complete, the installer will submit required completion documents to REF. REF sends these documents to our inspection team, and the project is scheduled for an inspection. If there are any issues with the project, our inspection team will contact the installation company to resolve these problems. REF is notified of successful completion of inspection. Lastly, REF submits a payment request to our accounting team. Payment is disbursed to the installer company via an invoice check. Since installers apply for the grant on the homeowners behalf, most homeowners don’t know what the documents they are signing are for and why they need to sign them. Listed below is an explanation of each document that a homeowner will be asked to sign before an installer can submit completion documents to the REF. Small Scale Completion Forms Page 2, 3 and 5 ask for signatures from the system owner/homeowner. Page 5 is optional and for marketing purposes. The other two are required to certify that the project was completed so that we can pay out the grant to the installer. Page 3 will indicate whether or not there were changes to the system AFTER the application was submitted. If the system size was increased, we cannot increase the amount of the grant. If the system size decreased, we have to reduce the amount of the grant.