India’s clean energy sector a top destination for private investment

Private investment in India’s clean energy sector increased by 54% to US$10.2 billion in 2011, a recent Pew Report showed.

The sector flourished in 2011, with the country placing 6th among G-20 nations, research released by the Pew Charitable Trusts revealed. India had the second-highest growth rate of all G-20 nations.

“Clean energy investment, excluding research and development, has grown by 600% since 2004, on the basis of effective national policies that create market certainty,” Phyllis Cuttino, Director of Pew’s Clean Energy Program, said. “On a number of measures, India has been one of the top-performing clean energy economies in the 21st century, registering the fifth-highest, five-year rate of investment growth and eighth-highest in installed renewable energy capacity.

“The country holds great potential in the Asia/Oceania region and will continue to be a top destination for private investment this year.”

India’s National Solar Mission aims to reach 20 GW of solar power installed by 2020. Pew attributes the sevenfold increase in solar energy investments (up to $4.2 billion) to this program. The country now has 22.4 GW of clean energy generating capacity installed.

“The clean energy sector received its trillionth dollar of private investment just before the end of 2011, demonstrating significant growth over the past eight years,” said Michael Liebrich, CEO of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “Solar installations drove most of the activity last year as the falling price of photovoltaic modules, now 75% lower than three years ago, more than compensated for weakening clean energy support mechanisms in a number of parts of the world.”

While the United States attracted the most funding (US$48 billion), China came ahead in wind energy investment and deployment and wind and solar manufacturing. Globally, investment in the clean energy sector grew to US$263 billion in 2011, increasing 6.5% on 2010.

To read the entire report, click here.