Ernst & Young Release Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices

Ernst & Young has released the latest edition of its Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices. The firm has introduced a revision to the Solar index, to reflect the increasing role of solar thermal in electricity generation. Changes to weightings in the index have resulted in overall rises in solar score for countries such as the U.S., Spain and India which have strong concentrated solar power (CSP) potential, while some countries such as Germany and France, with strong solar photovoltaic potential, have seen drops in overall score driven by a low potential for CSP generation.

Boosted by the new CSP index, the U.S. has remained top in the all renewables index and extended its lead to four points. European nations have benefited from the European Economic Recovery Plan as well as announcements from the EC that one-third of Cohesion Policy funds will target a green economy. These announcements have driven a rise in infrastructure scores across the affected Member States.

Meanwhile the Indian government announced a new target of 10% renewable energy within its energy mix by 2012. This, along with rises in tariffs for wind and solar, both photovoltaic and concentrated solar power, have bolstered India’s position near the top of the table.

In the near-term index, revised forecasts have seen the US rise as the reduction in forecast capacity for 2009-10 was not as great as expected. This is however still well below its peak seen in Q4 of 2007.

For more information on the Ernst & Young Renewable Energy report, click here.