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India's clean energy sector continued to flourish in 2011 with private
investment increasing 54 per cent to $10.2 billion, placing the country at
No.6 among G-20 nations, according to a new research released by the
US-based Pew Charitable Trusts. This was the second highest growth rate
among the G-20 nations.
"Clean energy investment, excluding research and development, has grown
by 600 per cent since 2004, on the basis of effective national policies that create
market certainty," said Phyllis Cuttino, Director of Pew's Clean Energy Programme.
"On a number of measures, India has been one of the top performing
clean energy economies in the 21st century, registering the fifth highest fiveyear
rate of investment growth and eighth highest in installed renewable energy
capacity. The country holds great potential in the Asia/Oceana region and will
continue to be a top destination for private investment this year."
According to the research released
by the Pew Charitable Trusts, India's
National Solar Mission, with a goal of
20 GW of solar power installed by
2020, helped drive the seven-fold
jump in solar energy investments, to
$4.2 billion. India received $4.6 billion
and an additional 2.8 GW of
capacity was installed over the
course of the year. The country now
has 22.4 GW of installed clean energy
generating capacity.
"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 Liebreich, CEO of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Pew's
research partner. "Solar installations drove most of the activity last year as the
falling price of photovoltaic modules, now 75 per cent lower than three years
ago, more than compensated for weakening clean energy support mechanisms
in a number of parts of the world."
Globally, investment grew to a record $263 billion in 2011, a 6.5 per cent
increase over the previous year. The United States reclaimed the top spot
among all G-20 nations and attracted $48 billion. However, with $45.5 billion in
private investments, China continued to be a hub of clean energy activity - leading
the world in wind energy investment and deployment as well as wind and
solar manufacturing. Germany received $30.6 billion ranking third among G-20
nations. The combination of falling prices and growing investments accelerated
installation of clean energy generating capacity by a record 83.5 GW in 2011
bringing the total to 565 GW globally. This represents almost 50 per cent more
than installed nuclear power capacity.
With underlying data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Who's Winning
the Clean Energy Race? 2011 Edition examines how nations are faring in
the stiff competition for private investment among the world's leading
economies, known collectively as the Group of Twenty (G-20). Investments in
the G-20 countries accounted for more than 95 per cent of the global total.
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