Renewable investments to fall in 2016

WORLDWIDE: A drop in global clean energy investments in the first half of 2016 suggests a fall to the annual total, according to new figures.

BNEF tracks quarterly new investment totals in clean energy

Data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) shows investments in clean energy totalled $61.5 billion, 32% less than the same period last year.

This means investments across the first two quarters of 2016 amounted to $116.4 billion, a 23% year-on-year decrease.

BNEF chairman Michael Liebreich said it was "almost certain" investments for 2016 on the whole would be lower than the "runaway" $348.5 billion total of last year.

The fall in investments has been most keenly felt in the Asia-Pacific region, specifically China, where the total fell 34% to $33.7 billion.

Middle East and Africa saw a 46% decrease in investments, while the Americas, excluding the US and Brazil, was down 63%. Brazil actually saw a 36% increase and the US fell only 5%, demonstrating the fall off in the rest of the region.

BNEF said the fall was down to shift in the solar market, with a move to smaller-scale projects that require less capex.

The biggest renewable energy project to secure financing in the second quarter was SSE's 588MW in Scotland. The $3.9 billion project is supported by asset manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Chinese state-owned investment holding company State Development and Investment Corporation.