Renewable Energy Efforts Face Stumbling Blocks

A couple of news stories point to ongoing problems we'll have in meeting our renewable energy objectives. Yesterday's Puget Sound Business Journal reports that financing remains elusive for solar energy.

"The weak supply of tax equity combined with heightened credit requirements has led to numerous project cancellations and delays nationwide, with over 75 [megawatts], totaling $450 million, of idle projects in New Jersey alone," Pike industry analyst George Kotzias said in a statement. "But the tide is beginning to turn as evidenced by Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp -- both of which have established tax equity funds for solar projects."

A little good news in seattlepi.com's report that House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, supports nuclear energy and classifying hydropower as a renewable under Initiative 937. Nuclear may have to wait awhile, though.

Chopp predicted that nuclear power will be part of the solution to America's dependence on foreign oil, according to a report by the Tri-City Herald.

But first, he said, public attitudes must change.

And then there's this story in the Columbian saying a wind power project in Pacific County may be shut down because it threatens the endangered  murrelet. (This one stumped me for a second, but then I realized I'd misread it and thought it said mullet, which is't nearly endangered enough.)

Wrapping up the energy roundup, bad news in California as Shopflor.org writes that environmental activists have managed to block Chevron's refinery expansion at the cost of 1,000 construction jobs. 

The project would install new technology and reduce emissions, but groups like Communities for a Better Environment cannot accept any successful energy operation.

It does look that way.