wide-set-record-high-in-2011.html
Renewable energy investments worldwide set record high in 2011
Jan 16, 2012
A report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance said that a sluggish economy did
not hamper investments in new clean energy projects as they increased 5
percent to $260 billion in 2011, a record high.
U.S. investments in renewable energy moved ahead of China for the first time
since 2008, according to the latest data. U.S. projects saw an investment of
$55.9 billion in 2011, up 33 percent from 2010. China's investments
increased 1 percent to $47.4 billion.
"The news that the US jumped back into the lead in clean energy investment
last year will reassure those who worried that it was falling behind other
countries," said Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy
Finance. "However before anyone in Washington celebrates too much, the US
figure was achieved thanks in large part to support initiatives such as the
federal loan guarantee program and a Treasury grant program which have now
expired."
In 2011, investments in solar technology increased 36 percent to $136.6
billion, nearly double the $74.9 billion investment in wind power, which was
down 17 percent from 2010. Biomass and waste-to-energy investments decreased
18 percent to $10.8 billion, geothermal dropped from $3.2 billion to $2.8
billion, small hydro decreased 25 percent to $3 billion and investments in
marine technology were steady at $0.3 billion.
"The performance of solar is even more remarkable when you consider that the
price of photovoltaic modules fell by close to 50 percent during 2011, and
now stands 75 percent lower than three years ago, in mid-2008," Liebreich
said. "The cost of PV technology has fallen, but the volume of PV sold has
increased by a much greater factor as it approached competitiveness with
other sources of power."
The previous year also saw the one trillionth dollar invested globally in
renewables since 2004.
The largest single type of investment was the asset finance of utility-scale
renewable energy projects, which increased from a revised $138.3 billion in
2010 to $145.6 billion in 2011.
Venture capital and private equity investment saw an increase of 4 percent
in 2011 to $8.9 billion.
To read the full report, click here.
Read more financial news
Recommend this article
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
No comments:
Post a Comment