Global renewables investment hits new H1 record of USD 226bn - BNEF

Global renewable energy investment has reached a new six-month record of USD 226 billion (EUR 221bn) in January-June 2022, reflecting a stronger-than-ever investor appetite in clean energy, shows a new report by BloombergNEF (BNEF).

The overall investment in renewables represents an 11% rise from the same period last year, according to BNEF’s Renewable Energy Investment Tracker 2H 2022.

The rise was supported by record venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funding. More specifically, these segments brought expansion commitments to renewable energy and energy storage companies of a total of USD 9.6 billion for a 63% year-on-year jump. New equity raised on the public markets, however, fell 65% to USD 10.5 billion.

“Despite the headwinds presented by ongoing cost inflation and supply chain challenges, demand for clean energy sources has never been higher, and we expect that the global energy crisis will continue to act as an accelerant for the clean energy transition,” commented Albert Cheung, head of analysis at BloombergNEF.

When it comes to solar projects, investments in both small and large-scale developments reached a record-breaking USD 120 billion, which is a 33% year-on-year rise. At the same time, wind project financing went up by 16% to USD 84 billion. The improvements in both sectors came regardless of rising input costs for key materials, supply chain disruptions and higher financing costs, BNEF pointed out.

China led in both sectors with USD 41 billion of investments in large-scale solar and USD 58 billion in new wind. According to Nannan Kou, BNEF’s head of China analysis, the country “is well on track to hit its 1,200 GW wind and solar capacity target by 2030.”

As per offshore wind, the first-half investment surged by 52% on the year to USD 32 billion.

“Investments in 2022 will flow into projects coming online in the next few years as the offshore wind installed base is set to grow tenfold from 53 GW in 2021 to 504 GW in 2035,” noted Chelsea Jean-Michel, offshore wind analyst at BNEF.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.978)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!