Chicago firm Invenergy to build clean energy facility in Rhode Island

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Chicago-based company that plans to build an energy facility in Rhode Island says it will cut energy costs and reduce harmful emissions.

Gov. Gina Raimondo and Invenergy CEO Michael Polsky announced on Tuesday the company’s plans to build the Clear River Energy Center in Burrillville.

Polsky says the new natural-gas-fueled facility will displace less efficient power plants in the region, thereby decreasing emissions of harmful pollutants.

Both Raimondo and Polsky say clean energy facilities are necessary to transition away from fossil fuels like coal and oil.

Members of Fighting Against Natural Gas, or FANG, and the community organization Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion rallied outside Tuesday’s event to protest natural gas infrastructure in the state.

Opponents say fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, of shale gas is harmful to the environment.