At the Renewable Energy Finance Forum - Wall Street, over 750 attendees from 23 countries and over 480 companies assembled, defying continued economic difficulties and an uncertain legislative outlook, to debate the key challenges facing the renewable energy sector, and identify lucrative future business prospects going forward.
Energy market participants are facing one of the most sweeping regulatory developments in recent history with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. With significantly increased regulatory authority delegated to FERC and the CFTC, and the lack of detailed rules, the current regulatory climate creates an unprecedented amount of legal and financial uncertainty across energy markets.
All the major players in the wind energy industry attend and exhibit at WINDPOWER®. It is the focal point for wind professionals to network, learn, and discover what the industry offers. All of your industry peers — and competitors — will be there; it’s where serious wind professionals from around the world convene to grow their companies, find solutions to business challenges, and reconnect with colleagues and friends.
By 2012 the Provincial elections will have taken place in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan and the review of the Green Energy and Economy Act will have taken place in Ontario. How will these events impact the dynamic of and activity in the Canadian renewable energy market in 2012? The 3rd Renewable Energy Finance Forum - Canada will address these changes and analyse the reaction from the financial markets to date while exploring what the future prospects and uptake will be for investment in this field moving into 2012.
For developers of renewable power projects, the regulatory landscape is always shifting. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, for example, added the option of a cash grant in lieu of an investment tax credit—a provision that was set to expire at the end of 2010, but that received an 11th hour extension during the lame duck Congressional session.
In the intensifying search for sustainable power options, solar energy is emerging as a viable solution. Many utility companies are investing in utility-scale solar plants, and the growth outlook looks strong -- especially for PV plants, which promise rapid and steady improvements in price and performance.
For more than a decade the prospect of a wind farm in Nantucket Sound has sparked imaginations and spurred debate. At times it looked like a pipe dream, but the project is now fully permitted and construction is expected to begin in the next year. Jim Gordon, president of Energy Management Inc. -- the company developing the Cape Wind project -- spoke with Green Utility about the benefits of offshore wind power, and the challenges of developing the nation’s first offshore wind farm.
GU: How did your company get involved with wind energy?
What’s driving your investment in renewables right now?