Alternative energy has received $ 2 trillion investment over the past 10 years

A report prepared by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the Frakfurt School of Finance and Management and Bloomberg states that last year alone, investments in energy from renewable sources (primarily from solar installations and wind generators) were about $ 270. billion, showing an increase of 17% from year to year. In total, since 2004, around $ 2 trillion has been invested in alternative energy throughout the world, with China, the USA and Japan leading.

On the basis of the high cost of oil on average in 2014, renewable energy accounted for almost half of the new commissioned capacity, says Unep director Achim Steiner. According to the president of the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Udo Stefens, a lower oil price will have a negative impact on investors only in energy-exporting countries.

Oil and renewable energy are not direct competitors for investments. As the costs of installing solar and wind power stations are reduced, investors are more concerned about the cost of a megawatt-hour.

Last year, China with investments in the amount of $ 88.3 billion, USA - $ 38.3 billion and Japan with $ 35.7 billion 92% of the total investment accounted for just solar and wind power plants became the leader in investments in renewable energy.

Forbes notes that if recently (3-5 years ago) solar panels were very expensive and their installation often did not have economic feasibility, now the situation has changed a lot. Moreover, in 10 years, solar panels and power plants based on them can become the main and cheapest source of electricity, especially in countries with a large number of hours of sunshine per year.

Already, kilowatt-hours of electricity generated by the sun in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and Uruguay are below 7 US cents. For comparison, now in Germany one kilowatt-hour received from a coal-fired power plant is estimated at 9 cents, with a nuclear power plant - at 11 cents.