Investment in renewables remains strong
Despite a significant decline in deal volume and overall value associated with the pandemic, investment in renewables remains strong.
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Ernst & Young (EY) has released a report detailing transactions in power and utilities (P&U) for the first half of 2020, which shows that despite a significant decline in deal volume and overall value associated with the pandemic, investment in renewables remains strong.
In the Americas, P&U deal activity region sputtered significantly in the first half of 2020, with $8.3 billion in total investment over the course of 62 deals. Deal volume declined sharply in Q2 2020 to 15 deals, a 68% decline from Q1 2020. Of those $8.3 billion in investment, $3.5 billion, or roughly 42% of the total deal value, came from investment in renewable energy.
This is significant because individual deals in renewable energy are typically lower in value, so to have these deals drive so much total value shows continued investor confidence, even in the face of an unprecedented disruption.
As for the United States, specifically, U.S. in investments totaled $968 million in H1, reaffirming the country as the top investment hotspot in Americas, as well globally. Most U.S. investments were made in battery storage $357 million, followed by electric transportation $132 million. The report predicts energy storage capacity deployed in the U.S. annually to more than double in 2020, rising from 523 MW deployed in 2019 to 1,452 MW in 2020, before tripling to 3,646 MW in 2021.
Source: PV Magazine