Despite the economic crisis and recession last year, global renewable energy investment saw a record breaking high with trillions of dollars in investment and the United States retaking the number 1 position from China with over $55 billion in total expenditure.
Particularly, solar power has the highest increase in all renewable energy sources with investments reaching $136.6 billion a 36% surge from 2010 records. Bloomberg New Energy Finance chief executive Michael Liebreich said that the sudden peak in investment is primarily because of the price of solar panels which fell by almost 50% during 2011 and today is 75% lower compared to price range 3 years ago excluding government subsidies.
The continued plunge of solarPV prices made solar technology more competitive and more viable than other renewable energy sources resulting to a giant leap in investment not only in the United States but across the globe including countries that did not displayed interest in clean energy before.
2011 was also a prosperous year for renewable energy in Australia with investments reaching $4.7 billion topping 2010 levels, an increase of 11% in total, mostly derived from rooftop solar panels and other solar power systems. Bloomberg New Energy Finance's lead clean energy analyst in Australia Kobad Bhavnagr said that despite the introduction of the carbon price didn’t turned out quite well for now, clean energy investment continues to increase and on the road to reach $6.5 billion within a year and over $45 billion by the end of the decade fulfilling Australia’s renewable energy target.
Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said the government's clean energy package was meant to ensure Australia ''does not miss out on the benefits of clean energy investments'' and the scheme will come to time and will act as the catalyst for more renewable energy investment both residential and commercial.
European countries also set records last year beating their previous high on clean energy investment for a total leap of 3% from 2010 level with Germany and Italy leading on solar installations for both large scale projects and decentralised installations.
Other countries like China, India and Brazil also performed well in last year, With China ranking at number with a minute increase of 1% but still a hefty investment reaching $47 billion, India leading their part of the globe with a remarkable 52% increase totaling over $10 billion and Brazil with a decent 15% increase to $8.2 billion.
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