Global investment in clean energy saw a 30 per cent surge in 2010, helped in large part by a massive uptake in rooftop solar generation in Europe, latest figures reveal. Investment in microgeneration projects almost doubled to $59.6 billion (£38.9 billion) last year, largely driven by Government-subsidised small-scale solar projects in Europe, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. This 91 per cent increase on 2009 helped overall investment in clean energy around the world soar to $243 billion (£155 billion) in 2010, up from $186.5 billion (£119.4 billion) the year before.

The other main drivers of the rapid growth in investment in 2010, according to the research, were China, where investment was up 30 per cent last year, offshore wind, and spending on research and development (R&D) into clean energy technologies.

Government was responsible for much of last year's R&D investment ($21 billion) as well as other clean energy investment, the data shows.

Solar
Small-scale distributed generation projects in Europe pushed investment in the solar sector up 49 per cent last year, putting it ahead of any other sector. But
Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that 86 per cent of investment in small-scale solar took place in markets where renewable energy subsidies were introduced in the shape of feed-in tariffs.

Government intervention
"More than in most years, growth has been in fairly direct response to government intervention, whether in the form of cheap debt in China, sweet off-take deals for European offshore wind, feed-in tariffs for solar or a regulatory push for smart grids," said Michael Liebriech, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Liebriech described the level growth in distributed generation as "surprising". But this level of stimulus is unlikely to continue into 2011, particularly, around solar subsidies, with countries such as Germany cutting back on their feed-in tariffs. Liebriech said industry needed to "drive down its costs and reduce its reliance on this sort of support".

Other sectors
Other sectors that performed well last year, included wind, where investment grew 31 per cent to reach $96 billion, driven by China and large European offshore wind farms, and energy-smart technologies, where financing was up 27 per cent to $23.9 billion. This sector includes electric vehicles, smart grid and energy management.

Sectors that fared less well included biofuels, down slightly to $7.9 billion from $8.1 billion, and biomass and waste to energy, at $11.6 billion compared to $12 billion in 2009.

Other investment
While Government stimulus was responsible for the lion's share of investment in 2010, venture capital and private equity had a strong year, reaching $8.8 billion, up 28 per cent from 2009. Public market investment reached $7.4 billion in 2010, up 18 per cent on a recession hit 2009.

Clean energy investment needs to reach $500 billion annually to ensure carbon emissions peak in 2020 and Liebriech said last year's figures showed the world was halfway there.

"This is a spectacular result, beating previous record investment levels by a clear margin of more than £50 billion," he said.