Investment in India out-paces the rest of the world, thanks to the improving cost-competitiveness of wind and solar.
Clean energy investments in India reached $10.3bn in 2011, some 52% higher than the $6.8bn invested in 2010. This was the highest growth figure of any significant economy in the world. There is plenty of room for further expansion – in 2011, India accounted for 4% of global investment in clean energy.
The large growth was driven by a seven-fold increase in funding for grid-connected solar projects: from $0.6bn in 2010 to $4.2bn in 2011. Solar almost reached the same level of investments as wind, which totalled $4.6bn.
Ashish Sethia, head of India research at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said: “There was concern at the beginning of last year that increasing lending rates might hit investment. Policy measures like the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, and renewable energy’s increasing cost competitiveness, have made this a record year.”
Asset financing for utility-scale projects remains the main type of clean energy investment in India, with $9.5bn in 2011. This is significant as the higher lending rates observed over the past year could have negatively impacted asset finance. Venture capital and private equity investment also made a strong comeback with $425m invested in 2011, more than four times the 2010 figure. Wind and solar project developers such as Mytrah Energy India and Kiran Energy Solar Power succeeded in doing deals. The only major type of investment that fell in 2011 was equity-raising via the public markets. Only $201m was raised compared to a record $735m in 2010 when the Indian stock market was at its all-time high. (to read more visit http://www.newenergyfinance.com/
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