According to the newly released authoritative figures of Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), new clean energy investment reached US$41.7 billion in the second quarter of 2011, up 27% from the first quarter and 22% from the second quarter of 2010. According to its analysis, the solar thermal utilization project has attracted billions of dollars, making the clean energy investment in the second quarter strong; at the same time, the sharp rebound of the investment volume of the United States driven by venture capital and private equity capital** has become the bright spot in the second quarter.

Clean energy investment strong A series of large-scale solar thermal power generation projects appeared in the second quarter of clean energy projects. In the second quarter, the 392MW Ivanpah solar thermal power project of BrightSource in the United States had an investment of 2.2 billion U.S. dollars, becoming the largest investment project in the world. Others include the 100MW FPL Termosol project in Spain and the 100MW Eskom Uppington project in South Africa worth millions of dollars.

The total assets of public utilities renewable energy projects in the second quarter were US$35.3 billion, an increase of 30% over the first quarter. In addition to the above solar thermal power generation projects, the others include the 400 MW geothermal project in Kenya and the 300 MW Alta Wind Energy Center in California, USA.

Another type of investment that has grown sharply in the second quarter comes from venture capital and private equity of clean energy companies. Investment has increased by 74% to $3.1 billion, making it the highest single-quarter investment since the third quarter of 2008. The second quarter's VC/PE transaction included German biogas expert Agri. Capital provided US$445 million in investment, and a US$240 million investment in China’s solar polysilicon maker LDK. The expansion of private equity capital is the main type of **, promoting the overall increase in VC/PE investment.

From different regions, India’s investment in the second quarter increased by 46% to reach US$2.5 billion. As a result of the rapid increase in assets in wind and solar energy projects, the US’s clean energy investment rebounded by 195% in the second quarter to reach US$10.5bn, the third highest total investment in the country, second only to the fourth quarter of 2010 and Fourth quarter of 2007.

Despite the strong investment growth in the United States, China is still the world’s largest clean energy investor in the second quarter, with a total investment of US$12 billion. However, this was 11% lower than the first quarter. During the same period, European investment increased by 14% to US$8.9 billion under the promotion of solar thermal power projects in Spain and wind farm projects in Austria and Spain.

Equity performance is sluggish The global optimistic growth in clean energy investment contrasts sharply with the performance of clean-energy stocks that lacked impressive performance from April to June this year. The New Energy Global Innovation Index (NEX), which tracks 98 clean energy stocks in the world, fell 13% in the second quarter after a better performance in the first quarter of this year.

BNEF CEO Michael Liebreich said there is an interesting contrast between the performance of clean energy investments and clean energy stocks. Clean energy investment is very strong in almost every region of the world, and the stock price performance is far from satisfactory. He believes that this part is related to investors’ excessive concern about future policy support, and partly because this is a highly competitive industry, and its cost reduction and high profitability of manufacturing are difficult to sustain.

Compared with the first quarter, the only declining investment type was equity in listed clean energy companies, which fell by 7% to US$3.4 billion. The Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Huaneng New Energy has become the largest deal in Hong Kong with an IPO of US$799 million.

As an important indicator of trading volume, mergers, acquisitions, and refinancings in the clean energy sector jumped 93% to $21.7 billion in the second quarter. Renewable energy projects and companies in this area both have leveraged buyouts and reinventions. In the company's mergers and acquisitions, China National Chemical Corporation's China National Bluestar Group spent US$2 billion to acquire Aiken, a Norwegian manufacturer and distributor of silicon materials; France Total spent US$1.6 billion to purchase US-based PV module manufacturer SunPower. 60% equity of the company.