Watch for electricity prices to rise, not fall, because the Copenhagen climate change conference ended without a mandatory agreement to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

That’s the warning sounded by energy suppliers and investors in clean energy technologies. The problem is that energy demand is growing, despite the current recession.

However, there are no plans to create new power capacity that’s based on the status quo of burning good old coal. Instead, everybody’s been investing in solar, wind and nuclear energy.

These investments all depend on a high price for carbon credit offsets to justify building new clean-power capacities. But the lack of binding GHG reduction agreements at Copenhagen has pulled the rug out from under these plans.

The Guardian reports that the price of carbon credits fell 10% after it was clear that the Copenhagen event would end without a mandatory agreement to cut GHGs. Lack of a Copenhagen agreement forced the European Union to scrap plans to raise its goal of cutting GHGs from 20% to 30% by 2020. The 20% reduction target remains in effect.

Reuters reports falling prices for carbon offset credit prices, now at a six-month low, have cooled interest in the once-hot clean energy sector. Investments in solar, wind and geothermal projects may not revive until 2012, the news service reports.

Result: No GHG cuts, no income from carbon credits to build new capacity, no new capacity ready to go. So suddenly talk is back to energy shortages and higher prices.

Tags: carbon prices, clean-energy, Copenhagen, GHG emissions, renewable energy