2011 GLOBAL NEW ENERGY INVESTMENT

Solar surge drives record clean energy investment in 2011; Total new investment in clean energy increased 5% to $260bn in 2011, despite the sluggish global economy and a painful squeeze on manufacturers
12 January 2012 (Bloomberg New Energy Finance)

"Global investment in clean energy reached a new record of $260bn in 2011, up 5% on 2010 and almost five times the total of $53.6bn in 2004…according to the latest authoritative data from analysis company Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Last year also saw the one trillionth dollar invested in clean energy globally since the company started compiling data in 2004.

"The record investment figures for 2011 are particularly striking because they were achieved during a turbulent year for the world economy in general and for the clean energy sector in particular. The industry has suffered severe pressure on the profit margins of manufacturers, a sharp fall in share prices, some notable bankruptcies, cuts in European government subsidy support, and a reduction in the availability of bank finance…"

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"The largest single type of investment was the asset finance of utility-scale renewable energy projects. This increased from a revised $138.3bn in 2010, to $145.6bn in 2011…The second-biggest category of investment last year was the finance of distributed renewable power technology, notably rooftop PV. This reached $73.8bn in 2011, up from $60.4bn in 2010…Several other categories of investment actually fell slightly during 2011. Corporate research and development in clean energy…and government research and development…Public markets fund-raising fell…

"Venture capital and private equity investment saw a modest increase of 4% in 2011 to $8.9bn…2011 was characterized by significant volatility in levels of activity, with big variations in the amount of investment in each quarter. The most buoyant period by far was the third quarter, when asset finance alone reached $47.8bn, helped by a rush of projects taking advantage of the US federal loan guarantee programme that expired at the end of September. In the following quarter, asset finance worldwide fell 28%...[largely on] the impact of the euro area sovereign debt crisis on bank lending to renewable energy projects…"