Trying to balance environmental and economic goals while developing renewable energy is a challenge all over the world, as governments struggle to adjust incentives and regulations to meet sometimes conflicting policy goals.

One case in point comes from Spain, where a solar boom hit a few hicups along the way. Texas, which now leads the U.S. in terms of installed wind power capacity thanks to a simple Renewable Portfolio Standard, is now bumping up against transmission issues and competition with the natural gas industry.

There’s a bit of good news from southern California, where Terra-Gen broke ground on a new wind project in the Tehachapi region, one of the best remaining wind resource regions in the state.

In a speech on March 9th at a UC-Davis symposium honoring Art Rosenfeld – who recently retired from the California Energy Commission — Susan Kennedy, chief of staff for Gov. Schwarzenegger, told the 400 attendees that California has too many conficting state policies and that it needed to develop a coherent policy framework in order to meet its environmental and economic goals.

The Sacramento Bee also recently published a commentary by Peter Asmus on how the state has to move from just saying no, to a big yes for the green economy of the future.