News that Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary MidAmerican Energy is making a $2.5 billion punt on solar power is sure, once again, to raise the question of the long-term investability of the renewable energy source.
Cleantech and new energy is a complex investment area. With solar, wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal all clamouring for cash, it is hard to work out which presents the best case.
In the UK, conflicting developments such as the removal of feed-in tariffs (FIT) for solar power and the creation of the Green Investment Bank have both helped and hindered progress.
In October, prime minister David Cameron’s Green Investment Bank received the EU rubber stamp it had been waiting for, 18 months after it was first outlined.
The development, again, highlighted both the progress that is being made (some £3 billion of funds will be leveraged) whilst also showing how painfully slow making ideas official has become.
Re-wind 12 months and climate change and energy minister Greg Barker shocked the market by announcing sudden changes to the government’s feed-in tariff scheme. Barker declared that the FIT subsidies, which are paid to businesses for producing renewable energy with solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, would be cut by more than in December – five months earlier than expected.
Come March, for the sixth consecutive year, GrowthBusiness will celebrate the best of the renewables space as we put it on the pedestal.
Our New Energy and Cleantech Awards will celebrate luminaries in categories including Innovator of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year and University Spin-out of the Year.
It’s a chance to look at how contributions from cleantech are pushing forward innovation and challenging the status quo.
While many of the businesses crowned at the awards are in their infancy and pioneering risky technology, they are the ones which will one day go on to become the global big-hitters and change the way we go about energy procurement and efficiency.
GrowthBusiness will have exclusive interviews with the winners, but until then click below to read up on previous winners.
New Energy and Cleantech Awards:
