ENV223 Financing Renewable Energy

[3–0, 3 cr.]

With frequent increasing fluctuation of oil prices, the shift towards renewable energy is becoming more and more realistic. Nations are adopting renewable energy strategies to avoid remaining hand-tied and improve energy security, always with environmental concerns in mind. With the remarkable technical advancements and the growing target market, renewable energy has become an option that every community and every family discuss going for it and reducing fossil fuel consumption. But the major barrier remains, which is the financing requirements of renewable energy projects. There is no doubt that renewables do have less operating expenses compared to conventional energy, and less maintenance as well in so many conditions, but the capital investment is still too high to compare to a fuel oil or natural gas power plants. This requires a well-structured financing mechanism, a sustainable mechanism that would promote the use of clean energy and reduce the human impact on the environment. This will in turn reduce the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change. This course presents the different financing methods being applied and discussed a couple of case studies from the developing world.