RECORD Q3 FOR SUN AND WIND

Wind, solar farm finance at record in Q3, report says
Nina Chestney, October 12, 2011 (Reuters)

"Wind farm and solar park financing surged to a record $41.8 billion in the third quarter, even though clean energy share prices and the European economy slumped, [according to] a report by research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance…[Overall new investment in clean energy -- including asset finance, equity raisings on public markets and venture capital and private equity -- was $45.5 billion in the third quarter, up 16 percent on Q3 2010]…

"The increase in financing was mainly driven by offshore wind investment. Three large offshore wind farms in the North Sea totaled more than 1 gigawatt in capacity and $6.3 billion in investment."

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"There were also large financings for photovoltaic (PV), solar thermal and biofuel projects in the United States, a geothermal plant in Indonesia and onshore wind projects in Brazil and China…

"The average price of PV modules has fallen by a third since autumn 2010 and by 70 percent since mid-2008, while wind turbine prices have fallen by 20 percent since 2009, the report showed…This has made renewable energy technologies more cost-competitive with fossil fuel power sources but have been painful for supply chains…"