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Global renewable energy boom, with Asia Pacific at the heart of it

Asia Pacific at the heart of global renewables boom Investments in clean energy reached record highs last year, spelling an optimistic outlook but new sources of competition for industry players. Eco Business, By Vaidehi Shah, 7 Apr 16,   The global clean energy sector continued its breakneck development with a record US$329 billion of new investments last year, and Asia Pacific is at the heart of this boom, according to a new report by professional services firm EY.

The London-headquartered consultancy’s Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index 2016 report, released in late February, showed that Asia Pacific secured almost US$180 million in clean energy investments last year – more than half of the global total.

China topped the index with US$110.5 billion in investments, followed by the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and India.

Wind and solar are the key energy sources driving the spike in global renewable energy investment, found EY. Together, the two sectors snapped up US$270 billion in clean energy investments last year, more than 80 percent of the US$329 billion total.

They also accounted for half of all new power generation capacity installed last year, contributing 120 gigawatts of new energy projects.

Asia Pacific saw more clean power going online than any other region, with 36 GW of solar and 31.5 GW of wind capacity added. This capacity was significantly higher than 8.9 GW in North America for solar energy, and 15 GW for Europe last year.

Asia Pacific’s electrifying growth

Matthew Rennie, managing partner, power and utilities, EY Australia, noted that India, Indonesia and Singapore are some of Asia’s most exciting markets.

With US$10.9 billion in clean energy investments last year, “India is the rising star of the Asia Pacific renewables market, and is starting to challenge China as the present index leader,” he said.

The rapid growth of investments in India is thanks to the government’s ambitious target to install 175 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2022, announced last year. The country has also allocated US$400 million to finance this goal in its 2015 budget.

Indonesia, too, plans to scale up renewable energy………http://www.eco-business.com/news/asia-pacific-at-the-heart-of-global-renewables-boom/

April 15, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ASIA, renewable