US energy giant GE backs states going own way on renewables

General Electric encouraging the States
 to go it alone on renewable energy.

Renewable energy can add resiliency to electricity grids and there's no reason why individual states can't set their own goals higher than a national target, says a US industry veteran.

Nick Miller, senior technology director of General Electric's energy consultancy, said US states such as Texas now supplied as much as half their electricity from renewable sources.

"If Australia wants to try its own state by state [approach] that is not intrinsically a bad thing," the 36-year GE veteran engineer told Fairfax Media during a visit.

"If some states want to move forward faster, they will reap the economic benefits first, and the states that stay behind — sort of embracing the past — are probably going to get left behind."

Read Peter Hannam’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “US energy giant GE backs states going own way on renewables.”