Energy Research Project for Alternative Energy, Renewable Energy, and Green Energy Technologies

Almost all of today's renewable energy projects rely on regulatory financial incentives in order to make investment returns sufficiently attractive. Some incentives, such as rebates and tax credits, have known monetary value and are therefore rather easily incorporated in financial pro formas. Other incentives, namely renewable energy certificates (commonly known as "RECs") used for compliance with renewable portfolio standards (RPS), are inherently variable and therefore require exogenous methods to determine their value. Because RECs can be unbundled from the underlying renewable power and sold to utilities with renewable energy obligations, they are commodities subject to a variety of market forces that impact their value.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hopes his state will generate a third of its electricity from renewable power by 2020. It's an ambitious goal that will take an unprecedented effort. But economic and bureaucratic challenges could hamper the efforts of clean energy developers.

DOE has finalized a $117 million loan guarantee for the 30- MW Kahuku Wind Power project in Hawaii. The wind farm will use a dozen 2.5-MW Liberty wind turbines and a battery storage system to modulate the renewable power.

That developed countries have accelerated their energy efficiency gains, renewable power investment is rising, and electrified vehicles are hitting the road are all signs of an ongoing energy technology revolution, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The Section 1603 Treasury cash grant program appears to have stimulated incremental renewable power capacity additions in 2009, thereby supporting U.S.-based renewable energy jobs, according to a new report by researchers Mark Bolinger, Ryan Wiser, and Naïm Darghouth of the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

A recent NRDC analysis of a Pew study found that the ten nations leading the world in government investment in renewable power have now passed the US by.

With recent announcements such as Agile Energy, Inc., a developer of utility-scale renewable power generating projects, closing Series A investment from Good Energies, Inc., one of the world's leading private investors in renewable energy all signs point towards recovery for the solar sector. In this case, the financing provides Agile Energy with both cash and credit support which will fund the company's growth and development activities.

U.S.-based private equity firm is expected to invest in renewable power, alternative fuels, energy efficiency, and storage.