Jul 15, 2014 - Investments in clean energy worldwide for the second quarter of 2014 jumped by 33% quarter-on-quarter and by 9% year-on-year to USD 63.6 billion (EUR 46.7bn), Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) said today.
The quarterly investment record for the sector remains at USD 78 billion, registered in the second quarter of 2011.
According to Michael Liebreich, chairman of BNEF’s advisory board, the consolidation period that followed the debt-and-policy-fuelled bubble years of 2007-2010 is now over and the sector is gathering momentum. “We are expecting the full year figures for 2014 to show a clear rebound in global investment in clean energy,” he noted.
The research firm attributed the solid second-quarter figures to a combination of large financing transactions for wind and solar schemes with capacities in the hundreds of megawatts, as well as to a surge in small-scale rooftop photovoltaic (PVs) installations. According to BNEF's calculations, global investment in utility-scale projects like wind and solar parks as well as small hydro dams went slightly down to USD 38.2 billion from USD 38.5 billion a year earlier, but was up from USD 22.8 billion compared to the first quarter of 2014.
The largest quarterly deal was the USD-3.8-billion funding of the 600-MW Gemini wind park off the coast of the Netherlands, majority-owned by Canada’s Northland Power Inc (TSE:NPI). BNEF called it the biggest investment decision ever in the renewables segment, excluding large-scale hydropower. Other big deals include the USD-818-million funding of the 121-MW Ashalim I Sun Negev solar thermal power scheme in Israel and the USD-647-million financing for the 252-MW Cemex Ventika wind project in Mexico.
China's clean energy segment alone attracted USD 19.3 billion in investment during the period under review, which is 16% more than a year earlier and more than double the first-quarter spending. Renewable energy investments in Europe amounted to USD 14 billion, up 47% year-on-year and 26% quarter-on-quarter. The US came third in terms of total investment with USD 10.6 billion. This represents a 2% increase on the year and a 34% surge on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.736)
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