Although Congress recently dealt a blow to the wind energy industry by failing to extend the production tax credit that helped incentivize wind power investment and production, and make it price-competitive with carbon energy sources, Immelt remains bullish on renewables and with good reason.
Clean energy investments in the U.S. will continue to be driven by so-called “Renewable Portfolio Standards” (RPSs) in 29 states and the District of Columbia. RPSs are targets and enforcement mechanisms for attaining a fixed percentage of a state’s total electric power mix from renewable energy. Currently, four percent of the nation’s electricity comes from non-hydroelectric renewables and is expected to double by 2025 as utilities strive to meet increased RPS targets. To meet RPS targets now in place, Macquarie’s Green says several hundred billion dollars of investment in renewable energy generation projects will be required between now and 2030. If RPS standards are increased that amount will go even higher.
These investments, according to Green, are “the single most actionable thing we can do with capital today to address both the desire for stable returns as well as the need for low-carbon energy.” Increasing the percentage of renewables in the nation’s energy mix also provides utilities with much needed diversification of supply, a hedge against volatile fossil fuel prices that can help stabilize electricity rates over the long-term.
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via Investors Are Making Big Money On Renewable Energy | ThinkProgress.