Which Country Saw a 20,000% Increase in Clean Energy Investing?

[kristopher]

Which Country Saw a 20,000% Increase in Clean Energy Investing?

No, it’s not China.


KATHERINE TWEED: APRIL 18, 2013


...In the Pew Charitable Trust’s fourth annual report, Who’s Winning the Clean Energy Race? 2012 Edition, Pew and Bloomberg New Energy Finance found that while investment dropped from 2011 to 2012 in G20 countries, it was up by more than 50 percent in non-G20 countries.

And then there’s South Africa. It’s easy to see big gains when you’re starting from nearly zero, and that’s exactly what’s going on in the country. Clean energy investment was up 20,000 percent to about $5.5 billion for 2012 in South Africa, with $4.3 billion for solar and most of the rest going to wind energy.

South Africa’s clean energy program relies largely on reverse auctions that challenge the market to bid in the lowest possible price for projects, said Ethan Zindler, head of policy analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The country is aiming to have 3.7 gigawatts of renewables by the end of 2016. South Africa’s investment catapulted it into the top ten from nearly last place.

The top dog, however, was clearly China.



In 2012, China took the lead with...

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[kristopher]

1. Investment in renewables expected to triple

Renewables Investment Seen Tripling Amid Supply Glut
By Louise Downing and Alex Morales, Bloomberg
April 22, 2013



LONDON -- The plunge in the cost of wind and solar power that bankrupted more than two dozen manufacturers is forecast to spur a tripling of investment in renewables by 2030 and to reduce the grip fossil fuels have on world energy supply.

Annual spending on clean-energy projects that don’t add to greenhouse-gas pollution may rise to $630 billion at the end of the next decade from $190 billion last year, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said in a report today. That’s 37 percent more than estimated in November 2011 and means renewables would account for half of all generation capacity by 2030.

The findings contrast with production gluts that made most solar and wind manufacturers unprofitable last year, tipping a unit of Suntech Power Holdings Co. (STP) into bankruptcy and Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) into record losses. While suppliers are suffering, lower equipment prices are making more projects profitable to develop and advancing the day when renewables can rival coal and oil on cost.

“The apocalyptic views about what it will cost to shift the world to renewable energy simply aren’t true,” Michael Liebreich, chief executive officer of New Energy Finance, said in an interview. “Three years ago, we thought wind and solar would be cheap as chips, and they’ve even gone below that.”...

More at: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/04/renewables-investment-seen-tripling-amid-supply-glut?cmpid=SolarNL-Tuesday-April23-2013