Top 10 emerging green energy markets lure USD 28bn investments for 2009-13

Ten emerging markets attracted USD 27.9 billion (EUR 25bn) of clean energy investment in 2009-2013, with solar technologies accounting for 43% of the total, according to a new report by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Solar investments amounted to USD 12 billion in the period, while spending on wind power capacity stood at USD 7.7 billion, or 28% of the combined clean energy investment.

The top 10 markets -- Thailand, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Kenya, Peru, Taiwan, Morocco, Vietnam, Pakistan and the Philippines -- installed 3 GW of solar and 1.8 GW of wind power capacity over the period, as well as 649 MW of small hydro and 481 MW of biomass power plants.

The most significant wind energy investments in 2009-2013 were reported in Pakistan, Bulgaria and Ukraine at USD 1.6 billion, USd 1.4 billion and USD 1.2 billion, respectively. Small hydropower investments in Vietnam reached USD 1.2 billion, and Thailand was the top market for biomass. Kenya, on the other hand, accounted for nearly all of the new geothermal plants in the period.

In the meantime, just five of these emerging markets installed fossil fuel capacity, and just one build new nuclear power, The Pew Charitable Trusts said in its report “Power Shifts—Emerging Clean Energy Markets”.

Overall, 100 nations outside of the Group of 20 and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) lured USD 62 billion in clean energy investments from 2009 to 2013. According to the research report, developing countries will account for the bigger part of global power capacity growth in the next 15 years, with renewables being responsible for 54% of the new global capacity.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.898)

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