Market and product

Global investment in renewable energy reached a record $329 billion in 2015 with wind and solar capacity additions estimated to have risen 30% year on year to a combined 121 GW, according to the annual report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

Almost $1 trillion has now been invested in clean energy since 2013, with wind and solar accounting for three quarters of that sum, it said.

Last year was also the highest ever for installations, with 64 GW of wind and 57 GW of solar capacity commissioned during the year, BNEF said, based on preliminary indications.

China alone accounted for one-third of the total in 2015, with $110 billion invested, but many developing nations emerged as "new markets" for renewables, BNEF said.

Europe retreated further, with annual investment falling 18% year on year to $58.5 billion, the lowest level since 2006, now just marginally ahead of the US, where renewable energy investment rose to $56 billion in 2015, the data shows.

"These figures are a stunning riposte to all those who expected clean energy investment to stall on falling oil and gas prices," BNEF chairman Michel Liebreich said.

"They highlight the improving cost-competitiveness of solar and wind power, driven in part by the move by many countries to reverse-auction new capacity rather than providing advantageous tariffs."

Global solar investment rose 12% year on year to $161.5 billion, of which some $68 billion was invested in small-scale solar, and Japan now the biggest market following a sharp slowdown in Germany, the BNEF data shows.

Germany remains Europe's leader in renewables despite the sharp slowdown in solar, with German wind on track for a third successive record year and wind power covering almost a quarter of power demand in Europe's biggest economy during the fourth quarter.

According to Platts Renewable Power Tracker, combined wind and solar capacity in Europe's five biggest markets -- Germany, the UK, France, Spain and Italy -- has reached 180 GW, generating more than 270 TWh of electricity in 2015.

Using Platts renewable energy calculator, that amount of electricity equates to 51 Bcm of gas burn (HHV 50% efficiency) or some 110 million mt of coal burn (35% efficiency) in conventional power generation.

In another purely theoretical cross-commodity comparison, more than 550 LNG cargoes would be needed to generate the same electricity as wind and solar in Europe's Big 5 in 2015, the data shows.