New figures show record levels of investment in UK and global clean-energy projects.
The Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) report says global spending hit an all-time high in 2015, with nearly £230billion invested.
Worldwide installed generating capacity also peaked, thanks to 64 gigawatts (GW) of wind power and 57GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy, it adds.
The report says record spending in the UK was due to strong growth in utility-scale project financing, driven particularly by offshore wind as well as continued growth in rooftop solar PV investment.
It adds: “At $1.8billion (£1.3billion), the UK is now the fourth largest country in the world for investment in small-scale – less than one megawatt – solar PV, behind Japan, the US and China.
The report says clean-energy investment surged in China, Africa, the US, Latin America and India in 2015, driving the world total to its highest ever figure and a 4% increase on 2014. Last year’s total beat the previous record, set in 2011, by 3%.
According to Michael Liebreich, chairman of the advisory board at BNEF, “these figures are a stunning riposte to all those who expected clean-energy investment to stall on falling oil and gas prices”.
He adds: “They highlight the improving cost-competitiveness of solar and wind power, driven in part by the move by many countries to reverse-auction new capacity rather than providing advantageous tariffs, a shift that has put producers under continuing price pressure.
“Wind and solar power are now being adopted in many developing countries as a natural and substantial part of the generation mix.
“They can be produced more cheaply than often high wholesale power prices, they reduce a country’s exposure to expected future fossil fuel prices and above all they can be built very quickly to meet unfulfilled demand for electricity.
“It is very hard to see these trends going backwards, in the light of December’s Paris Climate Agreement.”
Recommended for you
