Renewable energy investors look to emerging markets

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Emerging markets are becoming increasingly attractive to renewable energy investors looking for stable policy environments. According to Ernst & Young's latest quarterly Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) report, emerging markets will reap the benefits of clear policies with growing project pipelines.

China, an emerging market in Asia, was ranked second on the RECAI has ambitious renewable energy targets. The government is creating a strong pipeline of innovation and deployment through a variety of tools, such as a 50% tax break on the sale of solar power until 2015.

Thailand is also targeting renewables as a way to meet growing energy demand. The Thai government announced a 51% rise in its renewables target for 2021, up from 8% currently.

South American countries - Brazil, Chile and Peru - continue to grow their renewables industry, with healthy project pipelines to 2018. In Brazil, almost 40GW of projects have registered for the November and December auctions. Chile continues to attract large-scale projects, such as the world's largest unsubsidised solar photovoltaic (PV) plant. The Chilean government has also officially doubled its target to 20% renewable electricity by 2025.

While mature renewable technologies are appealing to new investor groups, technologies of tomorrow should not be overlooked either. Despite government intervention creating uncertainty in some markets, there has been a resurgence in renewable energy IPOs in 2013. This is encouraging news for an industry that is still struggling to adapt to scarce project financing.

The full report, Global renewable energy country attractiveness and resource map, and press release can be found here.

By : EMA