Boost Wyoming’s Green Energy by Targeting Billionaires

Last updated Sep 28, 2023

TL/DR –

Nathan Wendt is using the Biden administration’s clean energy incentives to connect wealthy locals with natural resources in Jackson, Wyoming. The president of the Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs believes that the state’s geology, legal landscape, and wealthy residents make it well-suited to benefit from the green incentives. According to Goldman Sachs, the total investments in green energy could be three times the Congressional Budget Office’s forecast of $391 billion from 2022 to 2031, due to the extensive use of the incentives.

Nathan Wendt Seizes the Clean Energy Opportunity

In Jackson, Wyo., Nathan Wendt is tapping into the region’s natural resources and affluent locals to capitalize on the Biden administration’s clean energy incentives. As the president of the Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs, Wendt has worked on climate change and local economic development for years. With President Biden’s climate-related policies such as the infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act offering a host of tax credits, loans, and grants, Wendt sees a golden opportunity.

“For Jackson Hole investors seeking the next lucrative venture, there’s no need to look beyond Wyoming,” Wendt wrote in an opinion essay in The Jackson Hole News & Guide, praising the generous tax credits offered by the law. “This decade’s significant moneymaking opportunity will be in investing in net zero energy projects in Wyoming.”

Wyoming’s Potential in Green Energy Transition

Despite being a Republican stronghold and the nation’s largest coal producer, Wyoming is ideally positioned to reap the benefits of the green incentives the government offers. The Inflation Reduction Act targets affluent investors seeking profitable green energy transitions. The plan combines targeted grants with measures to transition the nation’s energy supply and workforce, attracting those with capital to invest in potential green technologies.

Wendt, along with other climate researchers, sees Jackson, home to some of the highest-income residents in the US by certain measures, as a potential source of investment in new projects. Many of these millionaires and billionaires who are financial market professionals relocated from major coastal cities and could have the capital and the desire to invest in local climate projects.

Features That Make Wyoming a Top Candidate

“Teton County has historically been detached from the wider Wyoming economic story,” Wendt said, “We’re working to close this gap.” The state’s geology and legal landscape make it a top candidate for emerging carbon capture technologies, which are incentivized through the law’s extended tax credits. The state’s existing pipeline infrastructure and energy industry workforce could help with hydrogen development.

Investor interest in the Inflation Reduction Act has exceeded expectations, with about 150 corporations discussing the Act in investor presentations since August. Some estimates suggest that Wyoming could see the largest per capita investment related to the legislation than any other state in the nation. This is due to both local policies and resources, notably the law’s new tax credit incentivizing hydrogen development.

Capturing Carbon and Profits

“The incentives finally make these investments profitable,” said Michele Della Vigna, a researcher at Goldman. For instance, Project Bison, a carbon capture facility developed by CarbonCapture, could be the largest of its kind. Big names like BCG and Microsoft have signed on for its carbon removal credits. Jonas Lee, CarbonCapture’s chief commercial officer, confirms that the project would have been smaller and slower-moving without the law.

Despite some hurdles, Rusty Bell, director of the Office of Economic Transformation at the Gillette College Foundation in Wyoming, believes the future of coal-producing communities like Campbell County will depend partly on adopting new technologies.