Global investment in clean energy totaled $56.6bn in the third quarter of 2012, down 5% on the second quarter and 20% lower than in Q3 2011, according to research published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance October 9.
The figures suggest that the full-year 2012 figure for investment in clean energy is likely to fall short of last year’s record US$280 billion. If so, 2012 would be the first down-year for world investment in the sector for at least eight years.
The research firm considers that the challenges facing clean energy in the third quarter continued to include policy uncertainty in key markets such as the US, the UK and Italy, and the dampening effect of low sector share prices on public market and venture capital investment. In addition, the recent sharp falls in the costs of wind and solar photovoltaic technologies have meant that the same megawatt capacity can now be purchased for significantly fewer dollars.
However, Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, observed “The third quarter figure was still well over $50bn – roughly equivalent to investment in the whole of 2004.”
The third quarter figures, drawing on the world’s most comprehensive database of transactions in clean energy, show that asset finance of utility-scale projects such as wind farms, solar parks and biofuel plants fell 10% to $32.3bn. There was a bigger reduction compared to the third quarter of last year, when asset finance reached $49.5bn thanks in large part to the final throes of the US federal loan guarantee programme.
Small-scale projects, such as rooftop solar, are estimated to have amounted to $21.3bn in the third quarter, in line with the previous three months and 11% up on Q3 2011. Germany has remained a strong small-scale solar market this year and, although Italy has dropped off sharply after the government brought an end to its generous subsidy offer, activity has been brisk in China, the US, Japan and the UK.
Venture capital and private equity investors ploughed just $1.3bn into clean energy firms in Q3 this year, down 20% on the second quarter and 34% lower than the third quarter of 2011. Among the few large deals were a $200m funding round for US installer Solarcity Corporation, and a $104m round for biofuel developer Elevance Renewable Sciences, also of the US.
A geographical split shows investment in the US in Q3 at $7.3bn, down 28% on Q2, and 62% on Q3 2011. China saw investment slip 17% on the quarter to $14.8bn, although this was up 6% on the same three months last year. India’s investment fell 16% on the quarter to $1.5bn and was 60% down from the same quarter in 2011, while Brazil showed a 94% increase on the quarter to $1.9bn, some 24% up on the year. Investment in Europe was $18.2bn, down 2% on Q2 2012 and 29% on Q3 2011.
A fact pack showing key figures and trends emerging from the Q3 investment data is accessible at http://bnef.com/Presentations/download/114.