Frost & Sullivan (London, UK) has released a report which predicts that venture capital (VC) funding for renewable energy will triple by 2020 due to regulatory improvements, support for carbon reduction, and innovation in renewable energy technologies.

"Venture Capital Funding in Renewable Energy in Europe" also notes that while Europe and North America have been the hub of most deal activity, bidders are looking at South Asia and Asia-Pacific as emerging regions for these technologies.

"2011 was a stellar year for renewables deal-making with the number of deals rising by two-thirds year-on-year, although total deal value went down by one-third," noted Frost & Sullivan Financial Analyst Vinod Cartic.

"Europe, in particular, followed by the Asia-Pacific region, led this trend towards more but smaller deals. This was in contrast to North America, which had fewer deals of larger individual values."

Thin film PV spearheads renewable energy investment

The report estimates that more than half of VCs have engaged in clean energy investments, with solar technologies receiving the most VC investments between 2006 and 2008 for both new technologies and manufacturing capacity expansions.

Frost & Sullivan states that in addition to a large amount of investment in thin-film solar photovoltaics (PV), new energy investments have broadened to include energy storage, energy efficiency and smart grid technologies.

Key challenges identified in the report include high capital costs, continuous requirement of investments into technology and a lack of economies of scale.

2012-11-26 | Courtesy: Frost & Sullivan | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

Our editorial selection of breaking solar news is published at:
www.solarserver.com/solar-magazine/solar-news/top-solar-news.html