Record Number of Investments in North Sea Offshore Wind Farms

Record Number of Investments in North Sea Offshore Wind Farms

A record number of investments in projects took place in the third quarter of 2011,.Asset financing for clean energy projects including large scale and power plants totaled $41.8 billion in the third quarter.

The biggest investments were made in offshore wind farms. In the North Sea alone, $6.3 billion in investments were made in three offshore wind farms totaling 1gigawatt(GW) capacity. The single biggest asset finance deal of the quarter was the $2.7 billion deal for , an offshore wind farm off the coast of Germany.

Bloomberg said the largest solar financing to take place in the quarter was $1.6 billion for the High Plains Ranch II and III, the subsidiaries buildingCalifornia Valley Solar Ranch, which in September. Bloomberg’s analysis shows the cost of PV modules has fallen by as much as 70 percent since 2008 and the cost of wind turbines have fallen 20 percent since 2009. The drop in cost has helped both wind and solar become more cost-competitive with fossil-fuel energy options.

Merger andacquisitionactivity in the renewable energy sector also saw an all-time high in the third quarter; includingcorporate and project acquisitions and refinancings, it reached a total of $25.9 billion. That’s a 31 percent increase over the previousquarterand a 59 percent increase over 2010 third quarter figures. Notable acquisitions included Toshibas takeover of Swiss electronic-metering company Landis+Gyr for $2.3 billion.

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Source: solar-energy-installers , October, 24.  2011