Clean Energy Investment Leaps In Second Quarter

Global investment in clean energy and climate-friendly technologies leapt in the last three months but full-year levels won’t recover until 2010 or 2011, analysts said on Wednesday.

Falling energy demand and more expensive debt have hurt large renewable projects for example in wind and solar power. Recession has cut risk appetite, curbing funding for clean technology start-ups.
But global clean energy investment rebounded in the past three months, after a 44 percent collapse in the first quarter, and stimulus spending could spur a return to last year’s funding levels in 2010, according to research group New Energy Finance.

“It’s a big bounce back,” said Michael Liebreich, NEF chief executive, referring to preliminary numbers to be published later this week or next.

“We’ve lost two years,” he added, comparing similar figures in the second quarters of 2009 and 2007.

Planet Ark