I'm not suggesting traditional financial return on infrastructure, but genuine demonstrated need and use regardless of return. If you build an unprofitable but highly utilized HVDC transmission line to avoid CO2 emissions for somewhere than can't generate their own clean energy (ie the Faroe Islands, for example, which hovers constantly at ~40MW of electrical generation using oil with occasional reliance on pumped storage), that would be a win imho. Japan's rail infrastructure is another prime example (although profitable if I recall). Avoid boondoggles, avoid status seeking projects, avoid nepotism and corruption, but deliver value.

Edit: As someone else in thread pointed out, renewables should be invested in.