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Goldman Sachs to Invest $150 Billion in Clean Tech

Fortune magazine reports that financial giant Goldman Sachs has announced that it plans to invest $150 billion in clean energy projects and technology like solar and wind farms, energy efficiency upgrades for buildings, and power grid infrastructure. The bank previously had a target to invest $40 billion in clean energy technologies by 2012, and will now almost quadruple that amount by 2025.

Goldman Sachs has long been bullish on clean energy and was an early financier of solar and wind farms around the world. This summer the company signed a pledge, organized by the White House, to take measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions and invest in clean tech.

In September, Goldman Sachs managing director and head of the environmental markets group, Kyung-Ah Park, noted that the renewable energy sector has “reached an inflection point” with more renewable energy systems installed this year than conventional systems.

At the same time, Fortune notes that the market for solar and wind technologies “could take a hit” in the U.S. in 2017. The 30% federal tax credit for installing renewable energy systems is scheduled to drop to 10% at the end of 2016. Thus investors like Goldman Sachs plan to focus on financing projects outside of the U.S., similar to how alternative energy companies like SunPower and First Solar focus on booming overseas markets like China.

Despite the ups and downs of the clean energy market in the U.S., Goldman Sachs is still “going long” on the sector. Goldman Sachs’ Park said the transition to new energy technologies is still in the “early innings of an economy wide transition.”