Major reshuffle in top 10 markets for renewables, US takes lead

Wind park in the US. Author: CGP Grey. License: Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic.

Thanks to Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, the US returned as the number-one market for renewable energy in the latest Ernst & Young (E&Y) country attractiveness index.

China is now second, after keeping the lead for many months. Its economic woes and grid constraints are overshadowing ambitious renewable energy targets, E&Y commented.

There was a significant reshuffle in the top 10 list, with India, Brazil and Chile going up the ladder. The table shows the key movements in the all renewables index.

Going up	Ranking in Sept	Change from June	Going down	Ranking in Sept	Change from June
USA	1	+ 1	China	2	- 1
India	3	+ 1	Germany	4	- 1
Brazil	8	+ 1	UK	11	- 3
Chile	9	+ 2	Australia	13	- 3
Mexico	19	+ 1	Spain	25	- 1
Ireland	28	+ 2	Greece	40	- 5

E&Y points to Chile as a very hot market for renewable energy and it has already attracted major players such as SunPower, Alstom, SunEdison and Enel Green Power. The country for the first time in 2014 allowed renewables projects to compete in auctions and there is a call for green energy to account for at least 45% of the contracted power. Bids are already being accepted for a May 2016 auction.

Even though it kept its 7th spot in the index, France is also in the “Where’s hot?” list, thanks to the recent doubling to 800 MW of its 2015 solar tender and the launch of auctions for floating offshore wind and marine energy pilot. The country aims at 40% renewable electricity by 2030.

Australia, Spain and the UK are losing ground in terms of attractiveness due to reduced support for renewables and policies that are hurting the sector. Both the UK and Australia went three steps down in the index, and out of the top 10, while Spain is now at the 25th spot, down from 24th in June.

Greece is at the bottom of the index.

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