REPORTS

Global investment in renewable energy hit USD 288.9 billion in 2018, with the amount spent on new capacity far exceeding the financial backing for new fossil fuel power, according to figures produced by BloombergNEF (BNEF), in REN21's latest Renewables 2019 Global Status Report.

The report says that progress in renewables remains concentrated in the power sector, while far less growth has occurred in heating, cooling and transport. The numbers show that while investment was 11 per cent down over the previous year, 2018 was the ninth successive year in which it exceeded USD 200 billion and the fifth successive year above USD 250 billion. The figure does not include hydropower above 50MW, which saw an additional USD 16 billion invested – also down on 2017, when USD 40 billion was invested.

The dip in investment in 2018 can be partly attributed to falling technology costs in solar photovoltaics, which meant that the required capacity could be secured at a lower cost, and a slowdown in solar power deployment in China.

The year 2018 saw a relatively stable market for renewable energy technologies. A total of 181 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power was added, a consistent pace compared to 2017, and the number of countries integrating high shares of variable renewable energy (VRE) keeps rising.

The reports reveals that:

1. Globally, solar was still the largest focus of investment, with USD 139.7 billion in 2018, down 22 per cent. Wind power investment increased two per cent in 2018, to USD 134.1 billion. The other sectors lagged far behind, although investment in biomass and waste-to-energy increased 54 per cent, to USD 8.7 billion.

2. China accounted for 32 per cent of the global total investment, followed by Europe at 21 per cent, the United States at 17 per cent, and Asia-Oceania (excluding China and India) at 15 per cent. Smaller shares were seen in India at 5 per cent, the Middle East and Africa at 5 per cent, the Americas (excluding Brazil and the United States) at 3 per cent and Brazil at 1 per cent.

3. Investment in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China and India) increased 6 per cent to USD 44.2 billion, the highest level in three years, while the Middle East and Africa saw investment leap 57 per cent to a record USD 15.4 billion.

Download the report below: