New clean energy investment halved in Q1-report

LONDON , April 2 (Reuters) - New investment in clean energy fell 53 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year to $13.3 billion, data published by research group New Energy Finance showed on Thursday.

The clean energy sector including wind and solar power has enjoyed more than fourfold growth in investment since 2004 but is now suffering from a sharp fall in supply of project finance as a result of the financial crisis.

Global clean energy investment fell for a third consecutive quarter, the data showed, down 44 percent compared with the last three months of 2008.

"Despite the sector's medium-term and long-term growth prospects, it suffered in Q1 2009 from a severe shortage of bank finance for projects and the parlous state of overall stock market confidence," the New Energy Finance report said.

The research group said that clean energy investment reached $155 billion in 2008, and that only a very steep rise in the rest of the year would see similar overall levels in 2009.

Asset finance for projects such as wind farms, solar parks and biofuel plants was just under $11.5 billion in the first quarter of 2009, down 44 percent from the fourth quarter and half the 2008 first quarter figure.

Venture capital and private equity finance for clean energy companies fell to $1.8 billion, its lowest quarterly level in over 2 years. Stock market investors contributed less than $100 million to clean energy companies, compared with $2.1 billion in Q1 2008.

The research group expected merger and acquisition activity to increase during the year as big players took advantage of rivals who couldn't raise finance.

The data were published on the day G20 leaders met in London to try and repair a ravaged financial system. The world's main developed and emerging economies were expected to refer to an option to spend some of an estimated $2 trillion economic stimulus on low-carbon investments [nL2438948].

That has disappointed some analysts who see the response to the financial crisis as a one-off funding opportunity to help create a low-carbon economy [ID:nLO938113].

Other surveys from Deloitte, the Cleantech Group and Greentech Media recently showed that worldwide investment in clean technology suffered a steep decline as the difficulty of pushing through initial public offerings of start-ups across many sectors hit record lows. [ID:nN31403794]

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Gerard Wynn)