Demand for clean energy technologies has skyrocketed as the energy and climate crises continue. Investment in new solar projects rose to a record $120 billion in the first half of 2022, up 33% from the first half of 2021, according to the Second Half 2022 Renewable Energy Investment Tracker report, which covers project investment and corporate financing. BNEF said the surge was driven by growth in investment in renewable energy projects, venture capital and private equity financing.

Despite persistent supply chain and geopolitical issues, investor appetite is greater than ever, thanks in part to sky-high energy prices currently seen in most markets around the world. Renewable energy is the key to achieving energy security goals and reducing reliance on volatile energy commodities, and policymakers around the world are increasingly aware of this.

Despite headwinds from ongoing cost inflation and supply chain challenges, demand for clean energy has never been higher, said Albert Cheung, head of analysis at BNEF. We expect that the global energy crisis will continue to be an accelerator for the clean energy transition. Meanwhile, venture capital and private equity investment in renewables and energy storage also set a record in the first half of 2022, raising $9.6 billion, a 63% increase from the previous year.

However, one type of investment that has declined is public offerings. After a strong first half of 2021, public market issuance by renewable energy companies fell 65% to $10.5 billion in the first half of 2022. The second quarter was $3.9 billion, the lowest quarterly total since the second quarter of 2020.

Large-scale solar investment in China totaled $41 billion in the first half of 2022, up 173% from the previous year. The U.S. invested $7.5 billion to become the second largest solar market, followed by Japan with $3.9 billion. Nannan Kou, head of China analysis at BNEF, said, "Green infrastructure is China's most important investment area in the second half of 2022 to boost the weak economy. Keywords: engineering news, overseas news

This investment growth trend follows China's strategy of building new renewable energy generation capacity to replace existing coal projects. China is on track to achieve its 1.2TW wind and solar power generation target by 2030.Editor/XingWentao