Who is winning the clean energy race?

It is China not the US – a fascinating report from PEW on the dawn of a new industry.

Globally the renewable energy sector is experiencing explosive growth – investment growth of 230% from 2005-2009.  In 2009 global investment was $162 billion in clean energy.  It is forecast to be $200 billion in 2010. Much of this has gone into wind energy – more than 50% of investment and of installed clean energy capacity.  Solar power is smaller though with strong growth potential given significant solar energy price declines and the potential for new thin-skin technologies.  Germany is the undisputed leader in the solar sector.

The G20 countries account for 90% of this total with China, Brazil, the UK, Germany and Spain having strong GGE mitigation and strong renewable energy policies in place. They have all set renewable energy targets, feed-in tariffs, carbon reduction targets and financial incentives to decarbonise.

China has strong wind, biomass and solar programs  – it is the leading national investor in clean energy, investing $34.6 billion in 2009. Relative to its economy the US lags – it invested only $18.6 billion over the same period.  10 of the 20 G20 countries invested a higher fraction of their GDP in clean energy than did the US. Spain invested 5 times more while China, Brazil and the UK invested 3 times more.

Growth in renewables has been only marginally affected by the global financial crisis – in fact investment in these areas has been an important part of economic recovery plans.

China is emerging as the world’s clean energy powerhouse. It now has about the same level of renewable energy infrastructure as the US.  The installed capaqcity is around 53 GW in both countries.  Overall around world installed capacity is around 250 GW enough to power 6% of world power demands.

Australia invested $1 billion in 2009 which puts it 14th in G20 rankings. It has a 2020 target of meeting 20% of energy needs from mrenewables. Investment is low from growing quickly from this low base.  It has tax incentives for renewable technologies, car efficiency standards and feed in tariffs.