The biggest category of investment in clean energy in 2016 was, as usual, asset finance of utility-scale renewable energy projects. This totalled $187.1bn last year, down 21% on 2015. The biggest seven financings were all in offshore wind in Europe, but there were also large deals in Chinese offshore wind, in solar thermal, solar PV, biomass and geothermal (the ENDE Laguna Colorada installation in Bolivia, at 100 MW and $612m).
Taking all categories of investment into account, solar was the leading sector once again, at $116bn, but this was 32% down on 2015 levels, due in large part to lower costs per MW. Wind saw $110.3bn invested, down 11%, while energy smart technologies attracted $41.6bn, up 29%, biomass was more or less level on 2015 at $6.7bn, and biofuels secured just $2.2bn, down 37%. Small hydro showed a 1% dip in investment to $3.4bn, while low-carbon services attracted $4.3bn, up 5%, geothermal $2.7bn, up 17%, and marine energy $194m, down 7%.
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