Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) released its annual and authoritative global clean energy investment data Wednesday, showing that total investment in 2018 reached an impressive $333.1 billion, down 7% from $361.7 billion in 2017, but this is the fifth consecutive year that clean energy investment has exceeded $300 billion.






Investment in most clean energy technologies has increased in 2018, but the growth rates are different. Small-scale technologies such as biomass and waste into energy increased by 18 per cent to $6.3 billion, biofuels by 47 per cent to $3 billion, geothermal by 10 per cent to $1.8 billion, and marine investment by 16 per cent to $180 million. Small hydropower, on the other hand, decreased by 50 per cent to $1.7 billion.



Wind power investment increased by 3% in 2018. Among them, offshore wind power increased by 14%, to $25.7 billion, onshore wind power increased by 2%, and total investment reached $10.8 billion. The largest single wind power investment project in 2018 was the 950 MW Moray Firth East project in the North Sea, with an investment of about $3.3 billion, followed by the 706 MW Enel Green Power South African onshore wind farm portfolio of $1.4 billion, followed by the 60 MW Xcel Rush Creek wind power project in the United States with an investment of about $1 billion.



Most importantly, however, offshore wind power is shifting from developed markets such as traditional Europe to China. In 2018, 13 offshore wind farms in mainland China began to be built, with an estimated value of $11.4 billion.



"The balance of offshore activities is skewing," explains David Hostert, BNEF's head of wind analysis. "Countries like Britain and Germany have created and will continue to play an important role in this industry, but mainland China is becoming the largest market, while new locations such as Taiwan and the East Coast of the United States are receiving intense attention from developers."



However, the biggest blow to clean energy investment in 2018 came from the solar industry, whose overall investment fell by 24% to $13.8 billion.



This reduction is partly due to the natural cycle of evolving technologies, as continued sharp declines in capital costs mean that more solar photovoltaic power can be installed at very low prices. BNEF's global benchmark for the cost of installing Megawatt-scale solar photovoltaic power generation capacity fell by 12% in 2018, but this was at least partly due to the oversupply of solar photovoltaic components in the global market caused by China's policy changes. As a result, China's solar investment fell 53% to $40.4 billion in 2018.



"2018 is certainly a tough year for many solar manufacturers and Chinese developers," said Jenny Chase, head of solar analysis at BNEF. "But we estimate that the global installed capacity of photovoltaics will increase from 99 gigawatts in 2017 to about 109 gigawatts in 2018, because the competitiveness of other countries using this technology has been greatly enhanced."



"Thirdly, China's actions have played an important role in driving the energy transformation, helping to reduce solar energy costs, develop offshore wind power and electric vehicle markets, and enhance venture capital and private equity investments," adds Jon Moore, BNEF CEO.



In 2018, clean energy investment data for major countries and regions around the world also include:



China's $10.1 billion, down 32% from the same period last year;



US $64.2 billion, up 12% year on year;



Europe is $74.5 billion, up 27% year on year.



Japan's $27.2 billion, down 16% year on year;



India has $11.1 billion, down 21% from a year ago.



Germany's $10.5 billion, down 32% from the same period last year;



UK $104 billion, up 1% year on year;



Australia's $9.5 billion, up 6% year-on-year;



Spain's $7.8 billion, a seven-fold increase;



The Netherlands $5.6 billion, up 60% year on year;



Sweden's $5.5 billion, an increase of 37% over the same period last year;



France's $5.3 billion, an increase of 7% over the same period last year;



South Korea has $5 billion, an increase of 74% over the same period last year.



South Africa's $4.2 billion, a 40-fold increase;



Mexico has $3.8 billion, down 38% from the same period last year.



Vietnam's $3.3 billion, an 18-fold increase;



Denmark's $3.2 billion, a five-fold increase;



Belgium's $2.9 billion, a four-fold increase;



Italy's $2.8 billion, up 11% year on year;



Morocco's $2.8 billion, a 13-fold increase;



Taiwan's $2.4 billion, up 134% year on year;



Ukraine's $2.4 billion, a 15-fold increase;



Canada's $2.2 billion, down 34% from a year earlier;



Turkey's $2.2 billion, down 5% from a year ago;



Norway's $2 billion, basically flat



(For the first generation of this article, please specify the origin of the cable network www.cableabc.com.)