States should abandon the “venture capital” approach to supporting renewable energy and focus on a fuel and technology-agnostic portfolio approach, Connecticut’s energy and environment commissioner says.

Connecticut is abandoning technology-specific renewable energy credits and instead funding a “green bank” that tightens the focus on creating scale in the deployment of both renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Daniel Esty said at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum – Wall Street in New York City today.

“Venture capital in the government realm has not worked very well,” Esty said. States should target the limited resources of government to leverage markets and private business, he stressed.

As the focus moves away from “picking winners and losers” in funding renewable energy capacity the future of sustainable energy relies on “driving the cost of renewable energy down to match that of fossil fuels” through a government-supported technology race, Esty said.

For more detail on Connecticut’s unique state program to drive renewable energy investment, read more here.