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Agronegocios y Agroenergía

Noticias del mercado argentino y mundial de biocombustibles

La inversión mundial en energías verdes superó los US$ 100 mil millones en 2007 (en inglés)
2 de enero de 2008

The clean energy sector powered ahead in 2007, according to analysts New Energy Finance. In spite of difficult conditions on the credit markets, the amount of new money invested in the sector grew to $117.2bn, up 41% from 2006’s $83.0bn, and more than $20bn ahead of predictions.

The clean energy sector weathered last summer’s credit crunch well, partly because nonfinancial drivers such as regulation, political will and fears over energy supplies remain strong. It was also helped by a shift in focus from more mature wind and biofuels markets in Western Europe and the US towards Asia, Brazil and other developing countries. Wind power continued to lead the way, but the year also saw strong growth in solar power and energy efficiency.

Investments in biofuels fell back from 2006's record year, hampered by surging feedstock costs.

• The biggest portion of investment funds went to asset financing, up 40% on 2006, at $54.5bn.
• The highest growth rate was in public markets, where investment was 80% higher than in 2006, at $18.9bn, the biggest portion being the $6.6bn flotation of Iberdrola Renovables (Iberenova). If this IPO is excluded, public market new investment grew by a more sedate 17%.
• Venture capital and private equity new investment grew by 27% to $8.5bn. Investors retreated from later stage investments and returned to early stage deals, as their familiarity with the sector and technologies grew and the pipeline of commercialisationready opportunities dried up.
• The year was marked by the launch of clean energy funds by several high street asset management companies, including HSBC, F&C, Schroeders, Virgin and DWS.

Michael Liebreich, Chairman and CEO of New Energy Finance commented: “At the start of 2007 we said that the clean energy industry had to deliver clean, cost-effective power and fuels in large volume in order to justify investors’ enthusiasm. That remains just as true today: investors’ enthusiasm still outstrips the industry’s current contribution to solving the world’s environmental and energy security problems. However, progress is being made on scaling up a number of sectors, particularly wind, solar, biomass and energy efficiency. The wave of liquidity washing through the sector shows no signs of abating and, despite the dark clouds still massed over the world’s credit markets, 2008 looks set to be another banner year “.

Asset financing

Clean energy asset financing was resilient in 2007 in the face of turmoil on the world’s debt markets, with a record $54.5bn invested. Investors were forced to shift their emphasis from project finance deals to on-balance-sheet financings, which made up 64% of total asset financing activity, up from 44% in 2006. Much of this came from the South American biofuels.

Industry and wind, biomass and waste-to-energy deals in China.

Wind investment accounted for nearly half of the total new investment in projects, or $24.8bn. Much of the growth in wind investment in 2007 took place in Asia and Oceania, whose $8.4bn of deals outstripped the Americas ($6.6bn) while investment in the EMEA region grew to $9.8bn after falling by $1.5bn in 2006. The remaining $29.7bn investment was largely in biofuels projects ($14.5bn); biomass & waste ($7.1bn); and solar ($5.9bn).

The 30% increase in investment in biofuel assets contrasted with 2006’s 171% growth, which was driven by the US’s love affair with corn-based ethanol. In 2007, much of the activity took place in South America, chiefly in Brazil, while the US ethanol industry stalled under difficult market conditions, with many producers shelving plans for capacity expansion. The ratification in December of the US energy bill, with its ambitious renewable fuels standard that calls for 36bn gallons of alternative fuels by 2022, should considerably improve the outlook for US ethanol. New investment in biomass & waste grew by 51% from $4.7bn in 2006. As with wind, most of the surge took place in China, where the government has great hopes for biomass.

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Fuente: New Energy Finance