BloombergNEF published its 2020 Climatescope findings – its annual survey of the energy transition in developing countries.
The report finds that total foreign direct investment (FDI) in support of renewables set a new record at $32 billion in 2019, up from a previous high of $24 billion in 2018. The vast majority – 84 percent – of the 2019 total came from international project developers, utilities, commercial banks and other private sources.
India’s policy framework and copious capacity expansions make the country attractive to clean energy investors. The Indian government has set one of the world’s highest renewable energy targets of 175GW by 2022, with 100GW to come from solar, 60GW from wind, and 15GW from other sources.
India dropped to the 2nd position in the Climatescope ranking from 1st last year. This reflects declining clean energy investment, which fell 12 percent in 2018-2019 to $8.5 billion and has plummeted 32 percent since a peak of $12.6 billion in 2017.
Renewables, excluding large hydro, account for a fourth of India’s 377GW installed capacity, and since 2017, capacity additions from renewables have exceeded those of coal.
While wind capacity additions of 2.25GW in both 2019 and 2018 were below 2017 levels, PV additions have risen every year since 2014, and solar posted its best year to date in 2019 with 11.5GW installed. This includes utility-scale, rooftop and off-grid capacity. Wind’s 2019 decline was partly due to a switch in the market from a reliance on feed-in tariffs to reverse auctions.
The report said power-generating capacity from solar plants such as photovoltaic projects reached 325 gigawatts (GW), up from just 1GW a decade earlier, according to new findings from research firm BloombergNEF (BNEF). Wind investment hit an all-time annual high, with $89 billion deployed to build projects in 30 emerging markets, both onshore and offshore.
Total foreign direct investment (FDI) in support of renewables set a new record at $32 billion in 2019, up from a previous high of $24 billion in 2018. The vast majority – 84 percent – of the 2019 total came from international project developers, utilities, commercial banks and other private sources.
Emerging economies accounted for 58 percent ($144 billion) of the $249 billion in asset finance invested in utility-scale clean energy capacity worldwide during the year.
Three in 10 emerging markets installed more solar capacity than capacity from any other source in 2019. Some 69 markets built new utility-scale or small-scale solar in 2019, funded with over $48 billion. Solar ended 2019 as 8 percent of emerging markets power-generating capacity and 2 percent of generation. Today, 95 markets have at least 10 megawatts (MW) of solar installed.
Mainland China and India remained the biggest emerging markets for clean energy investment. The two accounted for $94 billion of new wind and utility-scale solar investment and 76GW of wind and solar build in 2019 (capacity figures include funding for both utility-scale build and small-scale solar).
For the first time, renewables (including hydro) accounted for the majority of new capacity added in the 106 other emerging markets (excluding Mainland China and India). Gas build fell to its lowest level in these markets since 2014, with just 17GW added.
Chile set and met a 2025 clean energy mandate target of 20 percent and now aims for 60 percent by 2035. Chile was ranked 2nd in last year’s survey, and 1st in 2018.
India government has one of the world’s most ambitious renewable energy targets, aiming for 175GW by 2022.
Brazil has pioneered competitive auctions to contract clean energy, which led to 30GW of renewable energy contracted in 2009-2019.
Renewable energy installations in Jordan have boomed over the past five years, with 1.5GW of PV and over 500MW of wind capacity installed in 2015-2019.