(Photo: Wind power at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in Beijing, 2010. Credit: Scott Zhang, Flickr Creative Commons)[/caption]
Renewable energy investments slowed down during the first half of the year in the world’s biggest market, the latest figures from BloombergNEF (BNEF) show. China’s market plunged to the lowest figure for any half-year period since 2013, according to BNEF’s data.
Investment experienced a 39% slowdown in the country, dipping to $28.8 billion. China is in the midst of a transition from government-set tariffs to auctions for new wind and solar capacity, BNEF explained.
Despite multi-billion-dollar renewable projects announced in Dubai and Taiwan, China’s market pulled down the global investment figure during the first half of the year to $117.6 billion — a 14% reduction compared to the same period in 2018.
BNEF renewables investments figures were mixed for the world’s major markets: China, the US, and Europe all had dips, but the US was only down 6% and Europe 4% compared to China’s 39% drop.
“The slowdown in investment in China is real, but the figures for first-half 2019 probably overstate its severity,” said Justin Wu, head of Asia-Pacific for BNEF. “We expect a nationwide solar auction happening now to lead to a rush of new PV project financings. We could also see several big deals in offshore wind in the second half.”
Last month BNEF’s New Energy Outlook (NEO) 2019 projected that declines in wind, solar, and battery technology costs would result in a grid nearly half-powered by renewable energy by 2050.
“Major Western European economies in particular are already on a trajectory to significantly decarbonize thanks to carbon pricing and strong policy support,” BNEF said at the time. “The US, with its abundance of low-priced natural gas, and China, with its modern fleet of coal-fired plants, follow at a slower pace.”
