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Until November it was virtually impossible for a private developer of renewable energy power plants to become an independent power producer (IPP) in Mexico. Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution precluded private investment stating that electricity generation for public use is an activity to be undertaken exclusively by the Government. Mexico's enactment of a new law for the use of Renewable Energy and the Financing of the Energy Transition ( Ley para el Aprovechamiento de Energías Renovables y el Financiamiento de la Transición Energética ) substantially improves the legal framework for private investment in renewable energy projects. The law regulates renewable energy electricity generation for purposes other than providing public electricity services. The law states that the use of renewable energy for electricity generation is possible for private use and any excess energy can be sold, but only based on regulations and approvals by Mexico's energy regulatory body, CRE .

The U.S. saw $34 billion in private equity invested in the sector last year, a 51 percent jump from 2009, but China received $54.4 billion, increasing the lead it's held over the U.S. since 2008. Germany last year passed the U.S. with $41.2 billion invested in clean energy.

"This bill will provide the first real boost to the renewable energy storage industry, as it secures a clean energy future for California. To bring 2.25% of peak demand in storage online, Jon Petersen estimates that (with 135 MW a year of storage needed) $200 million each year will need to be invested, along with the new jobs that all that new investment brings."

"The Climate Investment Funds are a unique pair of financing instruments designed to support low-carbon and climate-resilient development through scaled-up financing channeled through the African Development Bank , Asian Development Bank , European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inter-American Development Bank , and World Bank Group."

Each year, things seem to get more exciting for the renewable energy industries, and 2007 was no exception. Although there was much disappointment about the exclusion of important provisions for renewables in the recent U.S. energy bill, the overall global picture was positive. With 31 gigawatts of renewable energy developed around the world, 17 billion dollars in global market transactions and 21 billion dollars in global venture capital invested in new companies in 2007, clean energy can no longer be considered an "alternative" -- it is simply the natural evolution of energy.

Renewable investment is not a bubble ...

And of course it will not be subject to business cycles either. Onwards and upwards from now, forever. Let's see in a few years.

June 15 (Bloomberg) -- Investment in renewable energy will probably decline 38 percent this year after dropping 5 percent last year, according to Didier Houssin, the International Energy Agency's director of energy markets and security.

"Is solar power a bright investment? It costs £12,500 to install solar cells on your roof, but new tariffs should give you a return of at least £25,000. So what's the catch? There isn't one, says Miles Brignall"

Two strong potential candidates for the Next Big Thing in cleantech venture capital are nuclear and carbon capture and storage. I've spoken with numerous VCs recently who are looking for innovative ways to play in nuclear power. Bets have already been made by VCs in small-scale nukes, hot fusion, and technologies related to big-scale nukes. The hope is to find a low-cost solution that is practically zero carbon emissions and also provides reliable "base load" power. So in other words, the hope is for a lower-carbon replacement for coal power. The challenges are also significant, however, not least of which being time to market for any new innovations, as this interesting article illustrates. With the recent news that the DOE will be putting $2.4B into carbon capture and storage, and its inclusion in emerging climate legislation, it's also clear that CCS will be leaned upon as a hoped-for way of making our existing coal-fired generation infrastructure less impactful on the atmosphere, while still preserving its value as low-cost baseload power. So in other words, the hope is for a lower-carbon "fix" for coal power.

This recent article by the Manager of EPRI published on EnergyCentral.com discusses how conventional photovoltaic (PV) applications can act as distributed resources when the sun is shining -- rather than solely as a reduction in load

Electrical grids worldwide vary in age and range, but overrall, electrical grid systems are seen as requiring urgent upgrades to meet growing demand. Of course, items such as transformers and power lines are maintained and upgraded by utility companies. However, utitility companies must feel confident about long-term financial terms as well as increasing demand in order to invest. With a now sensitive economy, and perhaps a looming world recession, utility companies are hesitatnt to invest. With, for example, large transformers being ordered years in advance, delaying decisions to invest for too long may lead to a less well performing grid.

While the global economic crisis will likely reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the impact over the long term is counterproductive to battling global warming, the Global Futures 2009 report asserts. Reduced funding for low-carbon energy technologies makes it less likely the world will reach the $500 billion-per-year investment needed by 2020 to ensure carbon emissions peak no later than that year.

The global recession is driving corporate adoption of energy efficiency measures in a bid to cut costs, according to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit.