Goldman Sachs amps up renewable energy investment

Goldman Sachs amps up renewable energy investment 

Renewable energy has sometimes been seen by outsiders as a progressive industry, one for companies and individuals more concerned with the environment than their wallets, more into green trees than green bills. But those involved in the industry have long known that is not the full story. And with Goldman Sachs increasing its investment in renewable energy, one has to wonder if maybe renewable energy has cemented its status as big business.
Investment banking titan ups renewable energy portfolio
According to the Financial Times, Goldman Sachs has invested $135 million in ReNew Wind Power, an Indian wind farm company. Combined with previous investments, that means Goldman now has $385 million invested in the company.
Ankur Sahu is co-head of private equity in Asia at Goldman Sachs, and he spoke to the Financial Times about the company's turn to renewable energy power generation companies like ReNew Wind Power, saying shortages in energy production and a variety of new tariffs have led them to ramp up production.
"All these factors play into being in power generation more than in the suppliers," Sahu told the FT. "We feel that generation is certainly the more interesting place to be."
Not their first entry into the market
Last month, Goldman announced it would be investing up to $487 million in JRE, a solar power generation company in Japan. It may be a developing trend - after all, the Wall Street Journal's website notes that the company has vastly increasedits clean-energy budget, moving from 1.4 billion in 2006 to $4.3 billion last year. And all of this comes on the heels of last week's two announcements by Google about renewable energy investments in Africa and Europe, where they will be spending millions of dollars on wind farms and solar energy. All around the world people are interested in renewable energy - in the UK last year, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Edward Davey said he thought renewable energy could "create a multi-billion pound boom for the British economy, driving growth and supporting jobs across the country."
Europe, Africa, Asia - these titans of American capitalism are spending millions of dollars on renewable energy around the world. People may think of investment banks like Goldman Sachs as cutthroat profiteers, but certainly their investment is good for the industry, good for Goldman Sachs and, above all, good for the future of the environment.

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