Uncertain supply chains, greenwashing of nuclear power and natural gas or other hurdles apparently cannot stop renewables. Because in the first half of this year, more money was invested in green power generation than ever before. This is the result of a market survey by analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), which they have just published in their Renewable Energy Investment Tracker 2H 2022.
226 billion dollars invested in renewables
Specifically, in the first six months of 2022, a total of $226 billion went into building new green power capacity. This is eleven per cent more than in the same period last year. The sharp upward trend is the result of a rapidly increasing demand for green energy facilities to cope with the advancing global energy and climate crisis, analysts cite as a key reason for the growth.
A lot of money for photovoltaics
The largest part of the investments flowed into solar energy - both in large and smaller plants. In the period under review, 120 billion dollars were invested in photovoltaics alone. This is a growth of 33 per cent compared to the first six months of 2021. Investments in onshore wind power amounted to 84 billion dollars, an increase of a whopping 16 per cent as well.
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This growth was achieved despite the rising cost of key turbine components such as steel and polysilicon. Even the uncertainties in the supply chains and rising financing costs did not deter investors from implementing the projects. Finally, energy costs everywhere are rising even faster than the prices for solar and wind power plants.
52 per cent more offshore wind
Investment in offshore wind also rose 52 per cent to $32 billion. "The investment this year is going into projects that will come online in the next few years, increasing the installed output of offshore wind nearly tenfold from 53 gigawatts in 2021 to 504 gigawatts in 2030," predicts Chelsea Jean-Michel, offshore wind analyst at BNEF.
"Finally, offshore wind projects are enabling companies and governments to meet decarbonisation targets in leaps and bounds." Jean-Michel cites the UK, France and Germany as just a few countries that have raised their offshore wind expansion targets in the first half of this year and are signalling further support for the technologies.
Renewables secure energy supply
But it is not only in building generation capacity that investments are being made. "In addition to booming project investment, the first half of the year also saw a new record for venture capital and private equity investment in renewables and energy storage, with $9.6 billion raised - up 63 per cent year-on-year," BNEF analysts found.
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"Policymakers increasingly recognise that renewables are key to securing energy supplies and reducing reliance on volatile energy commodities," said Albert Cheung, senior analyst at BNEF. "Despite the issues caused by continued cost increases and supply chain challenges, demand for clean energy sources has never been higher. We expect the global energy crisis to continue and accelerate the shift to renewables."
China expands to 1,200 gigawatts
The analysts saw the strongest growth in China. There, investments in photovoltaics alone rose to 41 billion dollars. That is 173 per cent more than in the previous year. In addition, 58 billion dollars flowed into wind projects, an increase of 107 per cent. "Green infrastructure is currently the most important investment China is counting on to revive its flagging economy in the second half of 2022," says Nannan Kou, who is responsible for analysing the Chinese market at BNEF, naming a key reason for the growth there. "With the increasing investments, China is pursuing the strategy of replacing the existing coal-fired power plants with renewable energies. China is just on track to surpass its 2030 wind and solar power expansion targets of 1,200 gigawatts." (su/mfo)
