Renewable Energy Investment Trends in Developing Countries

2010-11-25 10:43 PM

altenergygeek
Chennai, India
Posts: 7

Worldwide, in 2009, over $150 billion were invested in renewable energy projects. Most of these investments went into solar, wind and biofuels.

That is the good news. What is equally important to know is the trend of renewable energy investments in developing countries such as India. Remember, countries such as India and China are expected to be the largest consumers of energy within the next 15 years, so it is equally important to know how the investments are going in these countries.

It will not surprise you to know that China has invested really big money on renewables - to the tune of over $34 billion.

India appears to be doing well too: "Starting at less that $200 million in 2000, India is expected to receive almost $10 billion in investments into renewable energy and clean technology in 2010. By 2015, this could be over four times this figure." (Source; EAI Blog)

Well, is $10 billion for India and $35 billion for China good enough numbers? That is not clear, but it is clear that these countries are investing a fair share of the total investment (in 2009, the share of investments in global for RE for these two countries alone was about 25%, not bad at all!).

What are your thoughts on investments in renewable energy in the developing countries? Do you feel that developed countries could do better when just two developing countries alone are contributing 25% of the total investments?