Investment in green energy rising: World Economic Forum

Global investment in clean energy projects topped $243bn in 2010, a rise of 30% on the $186bn spent a year earlier, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said, and is poised for further strong growth.. It added that more clean energy sources could now compete with fossil fuels.

Higher energy prices were also likely to increase demand for clean energy, WEF said.

After a year of stagnation, the rebound in 2010 was spread evenly across three regions. Europe, the Middle East and Africa rose by $19bn to $94.4bn, while the Americas saw a jump of $17bn to $65.8bn. In Asia and Oceania, investment rose by $20bn to $82.8bn.

In China alone, $51.1bn was invested in clean energy projects. China has also been investing heavily outside the clean energy sector, including in coal-fired power stations, in order to meet its rapidly growing demand for power.

Many other countries have also increased their spending on fossil fuel energy projects since the downturn.

The WEF said investment in small-scale clean energy projects took off last year, with global investment almost doubling to $59.6bn. In Germany, for example, residential and commercial rooftop solar capacity grew by a record amount.

Other countries with feed-in tariffs, such as the Czech Republic, Italy and the UK, also saw rapid growth.

However, high government debt levels following the global downturn meant that some countries have been cutting back on support for clean energy, the report found.

As a result, reductions in feed-in tariffs were likely this year, it said. The WEF also highlighted the continuing lack of a federal climate or energy bill as an obstacle to clean energy in the US.

Looking ahead, the report said the sector appeared to be poised for "further strong growth", supported by the fact that an increasing number of clean energy sources could now compete with traditional fossil fuel power generation without government subsidies.

Clean energy projects have generally relied on subsidies as they have not yet reached the critical mass needed to become economically viable as alternatives to traditional power sources.

"Today, geothermal, biomass and wind projects can compete with and surpass their fossil-based rivals in increasingly significant energy markets," the report said.

Solar power generation, it added, had already reached parity with retail electricity prices in some parts of the world, "and will undoubtedly to so elsewhere soon".

From BBC News