Deloitte Report Sheds New Light on Utilities and Renewable Energy Investments

A recent report published by Deloitte has illuminated much of the speculative data on Utilities, the Recovery Act funding of renewable energy and widespread institution of renewable energy sources into the bigger picture of energy production and consumption in the United States.

The report highlighted several major points for consideration in utilities undertaking investments in renewable energy.

For one, utilities are facing what some refer to as “hand to hand combat” with regulators when it comes to direct investments into renewable energy sources. These clashes lead to indirect approaches to partnering with cleantech investments.

Another point for consideration is that of mandates. In today’s market, they are very real and a driving force in the creative process for utilities and how they operate.  Likewise, utilities must have evidence supporting economic gain if they are to commit to an investment as large as renewable energy, despite if a mandate is at play or not.

Last but not least, utilities have customers who rely on them for stable, reliable energy; in turn they must only use technologies that can provide that level of reliability. That closes the door to new technologies that have not been tested on a large scale for mass consumption.

While this latest report shows that utilities are willing to move toward using clean technology and renewable energy sources, a lot is still to be done in supporting their efforts and in educating the general public of the benefits of supporting both the utilities’ efforts and that of clean technology innovators.

Read the full report here and weigh in with your perspective.