PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation has awarded grants totaling $681,875 to 17 renewable-energy projects across the state.

The grants from the state Renewable Energy Fund were approved by the agency’s board of directors at its regular monthly meeting Monday and will mainly go toward feasibility studies for the installation of wind turbines, hydropower systems and solar cells.

Governor Carcieri said that such projects will not only reduce energy costs but will also create valuable green-collar jobs in the state’s emerging clean-energy industry.

“I have set an aggressive goal to increase the use of renewable sources of energy to generate 20 percent of the state’s electricity needs,” the governor said in a statement. “The Renewable Energy Fund is a critical component of our plan as it supports programs that will fund alternative energy sources for our cities and towns.”

Carcieri pointed to the recent installation of a 1.5-megawatt wind turbine by the Town of Portsmouth to illustrate the potential of investments in alternative energy. The town put up the 336-foot-tall turbine in March and has already seen a reduction in municipal energy costs of 60 percent. That machine was the second industrial-scale turbine to be installed in Rhode Island. The first was put up by Portsmouth Abbey, a parochial school, in 2006 and has generated similar savings.

Now, other communities are trying to follow their lead. They include Providence, Burrillville, North Smithfield, Narragansett and a consortium of nine East Bay cities and towns that are studying whether to invest in alternative power.

The Town of New Shoreham is moving forward with the installation of a solar-power system as is West Elmwood Housing, a Providence affordable-housing agency. A similar agency, Church Community Housing, is receiving funding to put up a wind turbine in Tiverton.EDC grant recipients

•$25,000 to Valley Affordable Housing, in Cumberland, for an analysis of a potential hydropower project on the Blackstone River.

•$47,000 to O’Neill Properties Group for a feasibility study for wind power and other green energy projects in Newport and Portsmouth.

•$33,000 to St. Antoine Residence, in North Smithfield, for a feasibility study for a wind turbine.

•$34,500 to Coastal Housing Corporation to study installing wind and solar systems at an affordable-housing project in Portsmouth.

•$20,000 to SLA Realty to study installing wind turbines in Exeter.

•$6,250 to Arkwright Advanced Coating to study hydropower at the Arkwright Pond Dam in Cranston.

•$23,760 to Trinity Restoration for the design and engineering of a solar system at Trinity Church in Providence.

•$9,800 to North Smithfield to install wind-measuring equipment.

•$20,000 to Narragansett to study two possible sites for wind turbines.

•$20,000 to Warwick for an assessment of wind power.

•$40,000 to Burrillville to study the construction of a hydroelectric facility in the village of Harrisville.

•$25,000 to the North Kingstown public school system to study installing a wind turbine at Hamilton Elementary School.

•$7,500 to Providence to study the construction of up to two wind turbines.

•$100,000 to the East Bay Consortium, which includes Bristol, Warren, Barrington, East Providence, Portsmouth, Little Compton, Tiverton, Middletown and Newport, to study of wind-turbine locations.

•$70,065 to New Shoreham for a solar system on Town Hall.

•$100,000 to West Elmwood Housing for a solar system in the Westfield Commons project in Providence.

•$100,000 to Church Community Housing to install a wind turbine and a solar hot water system at development in Tiverton.

akuffner@projo.com