Because of significant reductions in the cost of clean energy, economics are no longer the prime barrier to expanding clean energy: Solar, onshore and offshore wind, and battery power now cost the same or even less than fossil fuels. But significant non-financial barriers to wider deployment remain. Clean energy deployment is rife with uncertainties, most of them unnecessary. These uncertainties are constraining clean energy deployment right when it should be accelerating.
Renewables still aren’t growing fast enough to meet our climate goals because financing risk continues holding them back. New Energy Innovation research “Accelerating U.S. Clean Energy Deployment Through Investment-Grade Policies” highlights the biggest financing risks renewable projects face and how public policy can overcome them. Mitigating financing risk can lower renewable energy costs by up to 50 percent while speeding up deployment. Today, the biggest risks arise from local opposition and siting challenges, lack of transmission access, and challenges selling the power generated by a project.
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