The U.S. and the world will need to rely on a diverse supply of clean energy technologies ranging from geothermal, offshore wind and distributed energy resources to meet decarbonization goals, experts contend.

"I think thinking about both the energy mix on the supply side and the mix of uses on the demand side highlights the fact that there is no single global answer," Modern Energy CEO Mark Laabs said April 13 at the Global Power Markets Conference hosted by S&P Global Platts. "The right answer for the United States or even some part of the United States may very well be different than the answer somewhere else."

Laabs, speaking on a panel of energy executives and investors, pointed out that Brazil has been fortunate to have a "really rich hydro resource that provides most of their baseload power today."

"But their energy demand is now starting to outstrip their available hydro supply, which is leading to new energy sources or new fuels entering the mix," Laabs said.

This is seen as one example of the fact that emerging markets and other regions of the world will need different resources to drive down their emissions.

"Depending on which resources are available in a market, the right answer on supply side may vary," Laabs said. "Renewables has a role to play but probably isn't the entire answer essentially anywhere."

Nancy Pfund, founder and managing partner of venture capital fund DBL Partners, said it is important to "be aware of the environment, the region and the appropriate energy supply."

"I do think the blending of technologies is a key part of the answer," Pfund said.

Fervo Energy Co. Co-Founder and CEO Tim Latimer pointed out that the fastest-growing markets for geothermal power have been in Indonesia, Turkey and Kenya.

Latimer sees geothermal, nuclear and hydro resources as essential to helping close the gap in decarbonizing the grid, especially in the U.S.

"They're not going to be the biggest part of the energy sector, but to get to these 100% goals that we all now kind of agree are achievable, we need to drive innovation in these sectors," Latimer said.

Laabs added that energy efficiency and demand-side management also can play key roles in global decarbonization by reducing and optimizing energy consumption.

Financing these technologies on a global scale, however, can be difficult.

"Capital markets have been a really big barrier to adoption to certain of these technologies in emerging markets because you're essentially layering [distributed energy resources] familiarity risk on top of emerging market currency and capital risk," Laabs said.

'Exponential' offshore wind deployment

In the U.S., President Joe Biden wants to produce 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035 and achieve economywide net-zero emissions by 2050.

As part of its clean energy initiative, the Biden administration on March 29 launched a series of coordinated actions intended to help the U.S. install 30,000 MW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.

"In short, it is a very aggressive goal," Jeffrey Grybowski, CEO of US Wind Inc., said during the panel discussion. "I do think it can be achieved, but it certainly will require an exponential deployment of offshore wind in the United States."

"We have today a grand total of seven turbines spinning off the coast of the United States," Grybowski added.

The nearly 30-MW Block Island Offshore Wind project entered commercial operation off the coast of Rhode Island in late 2016. The project is owned by Ørsted A/S subsidiary Ørsted US Offshore Wind.

Dominion Energy Inc. subsidiary Dominion Energy Virginia's 12-MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project also is operational.

The utility, known legally as Virginia Electric and Power Co., in September 2019 announced plans to build the "largest offshore wind project" in the U.S. off the coast of Virginia Beach in three phases of 880 MW each. If approved, the first phase of the $8 billion project would be completed in 2024, with the final phases expected to come online in 2025 and 2026.

"Obviously, there are many gigawatts deployed across the globe offshore, but the U.S. is still grappling with some of the same permitting challenges that many infrastructure sectors have faced for many years," Grybowski said. "I'm hopeful that the Biden administration understands that the key to deployment at the end of the day is a clear set of regulatory structures and a commitment by federal administrations, in particular, to coordinate their responses to these projects, to prioritize them."

The US Wind CEO added that offshore wind projects, which require several years of development and construction, are "extraordinarily complicated."

"It requires literally dozens of state and federal agencies to sign off on these projects," Grybowski said. "So, at the end of the day, the test will be whether the new administration puts its full weight behind providing a regulatory pathway."

In March, the Biden administration announced it completed its environmental review of the proposed 800-MW Vineyard Offshore Wind Project, which Grybowski sees as a good sign of progress.

If the administration clears regulatory obstacles, "there is just a tremendous appetite for offshore wind on the Atlantic seaboard, where we have huge population centers that are very challenged in finding enough renewable resources to meet their goals," Grybowski said.

Vineyard Wind is a joint venture of Avangrid Inc. subsidiary Avangrid Renewables LLC and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners K/S. Avangrid is a subsidiary of Iberdrola SA of Spain.

US Wind is a subsidiary of Italy's Renexia SpA.

S&P Global Platts and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.