The Viability and Economic Impact of a Utah Energy Fund
Utah has a long history of being a source of energy for our state and the country. However, Utah has seen more than a 20% decrease in energy production since 2013 as a result of decreased profitability of Utah’s coal and natural gas resources with a corresponding loss of jobs in rural Utah. This loss of jobs and energy produced could be replaced by renewable energy sources with appropriate investment in these resources. In 2010, a study found that by increasing the proportion of Utah’s electricity mix that was sourced from renewables from 4% to 20%, over 7,000 jobs could be created. As of 2019, only 11% of Utah’s electricity mix is sourced from renewables, but these industries have already generated well over 7,000 jobs - not including the over 31k jobs in energy efficiency. Given these results, Utah could approximately double these 7,000 jobs by achieving the 20% goal. Based on data points such as historical MW installed versus jobs created, we can reasonably estimate future job growth of these industries. If investments are made, within 5 years Utah could create an additional 18k jobs, and within 10 years could create another 7k jobs. These clean energy sectors could also produce over 26mm MWh, or 90.9tn BTU, within those respective timeframes.
To enable the investment necessary to create these jobs and energy we could export, we are proposing the creation of the Utah Clean Energy Fund (“UCEF”). Many states in the U.S. have charted similar entities, with a variety of twists; the most recent funds were formed by Utah’s book-end states, Colorado and Nevada, and are structured similarly to the proposed legislation to enable the UCEF. UCEF is an innovative financial structure designed to attract private clean energy investment to increase the total amount of investment in clean energy markets. UCEF could also be a viable recipient of funds from the National Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator, which has been proposed via bills in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate and is currently being considered. UCEF has the potential to animate markets, - providing capital in emerging, sustainable energy markets - drive private investment, and generate well-paying jobs. UCEF would capitalize on Utah’s natural competitive advantage in clean energy.