That’s a 5% jump over the previous year and five times the investment made in 2004, said Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a market research firm based in London.
“The record investment figures for 2011 are particularly striking because they were achieved during a turbulent year for the world economy in general and for the clean energy sector in particular,” the report’s authors said. “The industry has suffered severe pressure on the profit margins of manufacturers, a sharp fall in share prices, some notable bankruptcies, cuts in European government subsidy support, and a reduction in the availability of bank finance.”
While several solar company bankruptcies, most notably the collapse of Silicon Valley startup Solyndra, grabbed headlines, investment in solar nevertheless spiked 36% to $136.6 billion worldwide, compared to the $74.9 billion put into the wind industry, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
“The performance of solar is even more remarkable when you consider that the price of photovoltaic modules fell by close to 50% during 2011, and now stands 75% lower than three years ago, in mid-2008,” Michael Liebreich, Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Renewable energy investment rose 33% in the U.S. to $55.9 billion in 2011, overtaking China’s $47.4 billion. The U.S. held the lion’s share of such investment until 2009 when China became the world leader.
After solar and wind, what Bloomberg calls energy-smart technologies – smart grid, energy storage, efficiency – grabbed $19. 2 billion in investment while biofuels attracted $9 billion, geothermal $2.8 billion and marine power $0.3 billion.
