As reported by Siemens’ Ronald W. Chalons-Browne, investments in clean energy have grown over 200% since 2005. The 2008 recession initiated a setback, but investments are up again.
According to Bloomberg’s New Energy Finance Report, in the second quarter of 2011 extending from April to June, investments have actually risen 22%.
Total global investment, the report stated, was at $41.7 billion for those three months.
And a large amount of this due to solar investments specifically.
The report named some of the major projects that lent to this high investment rate, naming BrightSource Energy’s Ivanpah project in the Mojave Desert, a solar project with a 392-megawatt production capacity.
According to John Mulligan, BrightSource’s director of public policy and regulatory affairs, the Department of Energy’s $1.6 billion loan guarantee was essential to the project’s progression.
Other projects named in the report that acquired large investments are the 100MW Eskom Uppington solar project in South Africa, and the equally sized FPL Termosol project in Spain.
Investments like these don’t always come from the government, either. This increase in clean energy investments was in part aided by companies such as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) that are dedicating some resources to clean energy investments.
The report also names the top countries in clean energy investing, with China taking the number one slot at $12 billion invested in the second quarter.
The United States follows behind with $10.5 billion in investments.
And in Europe, $8.9 billion has gone to clean energy investing.
The report also called into account a new agreement, based through the United Nations, in which developed nations would invest a net amount of $100 billion annually to clean energy in developing countries by 2020.
The hope is to cut down on carbon emissions in countries that have not yet reached their full capacity, for there is fear that the growth of energy from fossil fuels in these nations will cause climate change.
Both a curse and a blessing, the report continues, is the declining price of solar equipment. Though it will make the power source more affordable, it will also mean failure for companies that can’t afford such a price drop.
It will create a sort of survival-of-the-fittest for solar equipment companies, making room for the stronger and weeding out the weak.
Investments are necessary for clean energy sources like solar to continue to function, especially as they are part of a still-developing energy sector.
This high increase in investments for the past three months bodes well for clean technology.
That’s all for now,
Brianna
