January 26, 2007—Venture capital and private equity investments in clean energy companies increased by 167 percent in 2006, according to investment analysts at New Energy Finance Limited.
These clean energy investments increased from $2.7 billion in 2005 to $7.1 billion in 2006, driven mainly by a surge of investments in biofuels in the United States .
Investments in biofuels more than quadrupled, increasing from $647 million in 2005 to $2.8 billion in 2006. In addition, investments in solar energy more than tripled, while wind power investments more than doubled. Investments in other clean energy technologies—including energy efficiency, fuel cells, hydrogen, smart power distribution, and carbon markets—grew by 74 percent, according to the report.
