The New York Times featured an op-ed on Saturday about the importance of developing new ways to finance alternative energy projects. The op-ed, which was penned by Dan Reicher, Executive Director of Stanford University’s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, and Felix Mormann, a Fellow with the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, discusses Senator Coons’ proposal to introduce legislation to allow master limited partnership investment in renewable energy to help “level the playing field between conventional and renewable energy.”
If renewable energy is going to become fully competitive and a significant source of energy in the United States, then further technological innovation must be accompanied by financial innovation so that clean energy sources gain access to the same low-cost capital that traditional energy sources like coal and natural gas enjoy.
Two financial mechanisms that have driven investment in traditional energy projects — real estate investment trusts and master limited partnerships — could, with some help from Washington, be extended to renewable energy projects to lower their cost and make America’s energy future cleaner, cheaper — and more democratic.
Click here to read the full op-ed on New York Time’s website.
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