Bottleneck

Most of us agree that renewable energy (RE) is the way to go despite current price and reliability issues. But the policy bottlenecks need to be cleared.

The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to raise RE share in the country’s total energy supply to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040. This is an ambitious goal. It will not be achievable unless the policy issues concerning grid management, pricing and permitting are immediately clarified.

DOE wants to see increased investments in impounding hydro and pumped-storage hydro facilities between 2028 and 2030. It takes about five to six years for these hydro facilities to be built and made operational. The investment decisions will have to be made at around this time.

The program to increase our geothermal energy generation should begin this year and continue into the medium term. But the industry still awaits enabling mechanisms that will make the new power projects viable. The DOE and the Energy Regulatory Commission needs to work more closely to move the planned green energy auctions (GEA) that will finally open the grid for renewables.

Industry players detect a certain lack of urgency in putting the myriad components of our energy infrastructure in place to bring RE into the mainstream.

Producers of solar, wind and hydro energy are looking forward to the August schedule for the GEA to happen. But their enthusiasm is restrained by lack of clarity over whether the grid will be ready to accept the renewable energy we expect to generate.

The country certainly needs to go through a complex transition towards increased use of RE. The roadmap for that ought to be more clearly defined.

For instance, we will definitely continue relying on fossil fuels in generating the energy our economy needs. In fact, even as we plan towards greater reliance on RE sources, we also need to encourage more investments in traditional fossil fuel technologies. Government needs to encourage investments in both RE and fossil fuel plants as our energy demand grows. We need a clearer roadmap to guide investors with assurance there will be returns on investment for all players.

There are a lot of positives about RE. The cost of solar panels