In the first quarter of 2015 the global investment in clean energy sector was the lowest in the last two years.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) reports the global investment in clean energy was USD 50.5 bln in the first quarter of 2015, which represents the decrease of 15 percent when compared with the Q1 2014.
The Q1 figures show that investment in Europe slipped 30 percent compared to first quarter 2014, to USD 9.7 bln.
Investment in China plummeted 24 percent to USD 11 bln.
USA saw an increase in investment of 2 percent to USD 9.6 bln, contrary to Brazil where investment decreased 62 percent to USD 1.1 bln. The rest of Americas dropped 17 percent to USD 2 bln.
South Africa saw the biggest increase in investment, where investment in Q1 reached USD 3.1 bln, from almost nothing in the same quarter a year earlier, Bloomberg reports.
Michael Liebreich , chairman of the advisory board at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, commented: “We said in January that we thought 2015 would struggle to match last year’s dollar investment total, because of exchange rate moves. The US currency has strengthened 15 percent against a basket of currencies in the past year, and 29 percent against the euro. There were also a few more lumpy offshore wind investments in Q1 2014 than in Q1 2015. Without those factors, investment in Q1 this year would have been pretty much level-pegging with last year.”
Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) provides financial, economic and policy analysis, as well as news and database of assets, investments, companies and equipment in the clean energy space.