Creating More Funding Opportunities for Renewable Energy
By Jane Marsh
It wasn’t until almost 2000 that the U.S. opened its first solar energy company. A lot has changed in the last twenty-some years to accelerate renewable power adoption worldwide. The backbone behind the expansion is a blend of private and government investments, which show how important sustainable projects are to remedying climate change. Despite the positive trajectory, more funding opportunities need to happen to reach climate objectives.
Current Funding Landscape for Renewable Energy
Historic amounts of money have been funneled into renewables in recent years. It comes from a combination of sources at local, federal and international levels, including:
> Tax credits
> Grants
> Private investment
> International aid
> Loans
Efforts managed to obtain an assorted portfolio of stakeholders because the world must address the energy and gas crisis. Europe overcame its challenges but is extending measures to continue renewable buildout and regulate prices. Transmission lines and plants use fossil fuels and have weaknesses against severe weather that new infrastructure must compensate for. The dollar signs demonstrate the global sense of urgency.
Reliable electricity and fuel are more essential than ever, and the grid is amid a technological overhaul so it can enter the 21st century. Green investments are appearing mostly as regulatory action. Examples include the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act, which paved the way for grid upgrades, electrification, green energy infrastructure and job opportunities.
Plus, renewable energy is a ballooning industry — it’s a wise business decision to place bets in the sector. Solar and wind are safe bets, but other options like geothermal and biomass are making waves. Legislators seem generous now, but sustainable utility providers must still do their part in asking for more. Otherwise, critical implementation will stall.
Strategies to Enhance Funding Opportunities
How do professional and individual climate advocates get money flowing into the right hands, creating more funding opportunities than ever?
Diverse Public-Private Partnerships
Even businesses outside of the energy sector need to partner with renewable companies to support and align their values with sustainable power advocacy. This gets diverse stakeholders from an array of professions committed. Looking to veteran investors within the green energy sector alone creates an unnecessarily narrow tunnel of potential.
Public-private partnerships are the bread and butter of gradual yet persistent development. They lead to unexpected yet powerful forms of advocacy, like crowdfunding, nonprofit support, and impact investing from third parties and disparate industries. Twenty percent of impact investors found their money outperformed their expectations and only 1% stated their impact expectations underperformed.
Advocacy Through Policy
On the other hand, swift and widespread funding opportunities happen because of policy. Awareness campaigns are any organization’s best chance at getting the publicity it needs to secure money. Defending funding requires presenting the facts for the sector’s most convincing arguments, including:
> How much carbon emissions will reduce
> The number of jobs created
> Why communities will be more resilient to disaster
> How much money companies and residents will save
Green energy brands encourage funding by supporting standardization and compliance. It legitimizes the field and holds everyone accountable until citizens and governments align their worldviews to support eco-friendly power. Therefore, voting, spreading the word and educating the public are the most dynamic tools for getting more money for clean electricity.
Find Who Cares the Most
Seeking specific funding options will be any renewable energy provider’s best bet. For example, the Tribal Energy Program targets indigenous communities, while REAP Grants apply to agriculture. Maximizing funding availability requires money-seekers to get specific so the groups giving out the checks can help who they want to help most.
Success Stories and Best Practices
Creative and effective funding models have built out green power worldwide. The best programs offer comprehensive investment potential to regions with varying energy needs, population demographics and foundational infrastructure. What are examples of the most successful and practical projects to inspire further development?
Assistance for Rural Electric Cooperatives: Provided $9.7 billion in loan opportunities to improve energy and transmission efficiency, making clean power affordable and accessible to areas with vulnerable populations.
Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit: Offers 10% tax credit to incentivize onshore wind generation and infrastructure production.
Clean School Bus Program: Awarded $5 billion in rebates from the Environmental Protection Agency to transition to low-emissions and electrified vehicles.
Grid Resilience Grants: Released $5 billion from the Department of Energy to states, tribes and companies to strengthen the grid against natural disasters.
Whether it’s a grant or loan, thorough documentation and data are crucial for validating why renewable energy needs money. For instance, organizations rewarding grants need to understand why the applicant’s values align with their objectives. What hard data is available to back up their impact statement? How will they use the funds and prove its long-lasting influence?
Role of Technology and Innovation
Incorporating advanced tech for transparency and security is one of the biggest trends in green energy financing. Those embracing this will see more funding opportunities arise. Private and public investors feel more at ease knowing their money is secure and going to a good cause.
One of the technologies promoting this precedent is blockchain. It uses complex authentication measures to protect a digital ledger — unalterable contractual and transactional documentation protected through cryptographic programming. Entities are more likely to put money in places where they know it’s protected from theft and crime.
AI and machine learning are other technologies necessary to convince people to become renewable electricity shareholders. Predictive data is detailed enough to convince anyone that renewable energy projections are a safe bet. If people and companies don’t trust green power, find a funding opportunity through a medium they trust, like modern technology.
Spending Money to Make Money for Green Power
Trends in green energy funding show the best is yet to come. With continued research and development, cleaner and more effective power generation is on the horizon. Solid-state batteries could change the world of EVs. Redesigned solar panels could make them cheaper to install and more recyclable. The sky’s the limit — which will be full of wind turbines powering a sustainable generation.
Article by Jane Marsh
Jane works as an environmental and energy writer. She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of