GE Energy Financial Services announced today that it reached its multi-year target of building a $6 billion portfolio of renewable energy investments by the end of 2010, inspired by GE’s ecomagination initiative. Alex Urquhart, president and CEO of GE Energy Financial Services said “We achieved this $6 billion milestone because of our competitive advantage as a GE business focused on one of GE’s core domain strengths, renewable energy. To maintain this momentum, drive further deployment of renewable energy worldwide and keep America competitive through technology innovation and job creation, we are calling on Congress to enact long-term, predictable renewable energy policies.”
Cumulatively, the projects and companies have supported thousands of “green collar” jobs worldwide, helped grow the multi-billion dollar US renewable energy manufacturing industry, and—according to US Environmental Protection Agency methodology—avoided more than 23 million tons a year in global greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to taking all the passenger vehicles off the road in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. GE Energy Financial Services started investing in renewable energy in 1987. It had amassed a $3 billion portfolio by January 2008, when it set a target of reaching $6 billion by the end of this year. The investments have spanned 14 countries, 95 wind farms, 40 solar installations, six hydroelectric projects, 12 landfill gas facilities, and 15 projects involving other technologies, across a wide spectrum of capital – from project equity to debt, and venture capital.
Across the United States, GE Energy Financial Services has made approximately 75 percent of its renewable energy investments in states with renewable portfolio standards, or regulations requiring increased electricity generation from renewable sources. The GE unit’s research has shown that investments in the wind industry have risen and fallen with the renewal and expiration of renewable energy incentives. The expiration of incentives in 2000, 2002 and 2004 caused a 76-90 percent drop in installed capacity in the United States from the previous year.