Solar Leads a Recovery in Global Clean Energy Investment
Massive PV projects in the United Arab Emirates helped investments rebound in Q2, while also setting record-low price targets.
Global clean energy investment has rallied from a months-long slump, thanks to solar.
The second quarter of 2017 saw $64.8 billion invested in clean energy around the world, up 21 percent from the first quarter of this year, according to the latest figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). This marks the highest for any quarter since Q2 2016.
The financing of two enormous photovoltaic projects in the United Arab Emirates helped to drive a recovery in global clean energy investment. The 800-megawatt Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum III plant in Dubai and the 1.2 gigawatt Marubeni JinkoSolar and Adwea Sweihan project in Abu Dhabi contributed a collective $1.9 billion to the global investment total last quarter.
While these project investments represent an enormous sum, the power prices for these large-scale solar projects are some of the lowest ever recorded.
When Masdar was selected last year to build the third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Solar Park, its bid was heralded as the lowest-priced solar PPA in the world at 2.99 cents per kilowatt-hour. GranSolar, Acciona and Ghella were awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the 800-megawatt project in January. EDF Group, via its subsidiary EDF Energies Nouvelles, joined the Masdar-led consortium in March. Financing for the project closed in June.
Read the full article on GTM ⟶
Source: By Julia Pyper July 12, 2017
