Rhode Island pays about 26.7¢ per kilowatt-hour for residential electricity and receives about 4.3 kWh per square metre per day of sunlight — 5th and 38th respectively among the 50 states and DC tracked here. Those two numbers set the ceiling on what rooftop solar returns in Rhode Island, and they point in opposite directions.
Where Rhode Island sits against the rest of the country
Rhode Island is 11.9¢/kWh above the median residential rate across this dataset (14.8¢/kWh) and 0.3 kWh/m²/day below the median insolation (4.6 kWh/m²/day). Under this site's standard assumptions, that combination puts Rhode Island 5th of 51 for modeled payback speed, at 8.9 years against a dataset median of 13.5 years.
What actually drives payback in Rhode Island
Rhode Island is rate-led: upper half of the dataset for electricity price (5th), lower half for sunlight (38th). Swap Rhode Island's sunlight for the dataset median and payback moves to 8.3 years (0.5 years of swing). Swap its electricity rate instead and payback moves to 14.8 years (6.0 years of swing). The rate swap is the larger of the two, so what a kilowatt-hour costs is the input deciding the outcome in Rhode Island.
State incentives on record
Recorded for Rhode Island: Renewable Energy Growth program performance-based incentive; net metering retained; sales and property tax exemptions.
No federal credit is applied above (Section 25D expired 31 December 2025), and export terms often matter more than the headline rate (net metering guide).
The modeled system, in numbers
At Rhode Island's sunlight level a 7 kW array produces roughly 8,569 kWh a year, worth about $2,288 in first-year bill savings at 26.7¢/kWh against an assumed $22,400 installed cost. A ten-year payback at this sunlight level would require a residential rate of about 23.4¢/kWh, which Rhode Island already exceeds.
States with comparable economics
Rhode Island's closest analogues by modeled payback are Maine (9.6 years), Connecticut (8.0 years), Massachusetts (7.8 years). They arrive there from different rate and sunlight combinations, so their incentive rows are the useful comparison.
- Maine — modeled payback 9.6 years
- Connecticut — modeled payback 8.0 years
- Massachusetts — modeled payback 7.8 years