BNEF says Q3 clean energy investment steady at USD 70bn

Total of USD 70 billion (EUR 62bn) were invested in renewables and energy-smart technologies globally in the third quarter (Q3) of 2015, with 57.3% of that unsurprisingly going to China and the US.

According to figures released today by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), the Q3 total was just 1% down year-on-year. The table below shows investment by region.

The first nine months of the year saw investments of USD 197.9 billion, which is about USD 4.3 billion less than the same period of 2014 – “a resilient performance given the sizeable shifts in foreign exchange rates that will have reduced the dollar value of projects outside the US,” commented Michael Liebreich, chairman of the BNEF advisory board.

The largest projects to be financed in July-September 2015 included solar thermal power, or CSP, plants in China, Israel and South Africa, and four offshore wind farms in China. The solar sector as a whole attracted USD 43.9 billion in investments for Q3, down 1% on the year, while spending on wind declined by 5% to USD 20.5 billion.

Our Q3 clean energy investment numbers broken down by @pausick @247WallSt http://t.co/Z3R8MSCo3a pic.twitter.com/NSzTrBkG7P

— BloombergNEF (@BloombergNEF) October 9, 2015

The improvement in cost-effectiveness of solar and wind relative to fossil fuels is resulting in a growing share of power sector investment everywhere from China and Japan to Latin America and South Africa, Liebreich commented.

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