Greece, Croatia are top-tier markets for energy transition investment

BNEF’s Climatescope placed Greece at the sixth position worldwide in its chart of best destinations for investment in electricity from renewables, while Croatia is 16th. Both also did well in the overall energy transition ranking.

Global power output slipped just 0.2% last year, BloombergNEF (BNEF) said in its Climatescope report on energy transition, noting that a sharp drop had been expected due to the coronavirus pandemic, but that China led the recovery. The document reveals detailed information on 136 markets.

Asset financing – the funding of projects and infrastructure – for renewable energy, electrified transportation and electrified heat surged 11% in 2020. Renewables accounted for 60% of the total, though there has been little change in investment in the category (wind and solar, mostly) over the past six years.

Wind farms generated 6% and solar parks accounted for 3%, a flat result year on year, but production attributed to the two technologies jumped 15% and 11%, respectively, in absolute terms. In net new capacity, photovoltaics had the biggest share by far, 46%, compared to 23% for wind. The report adds growth in the coal sector continued to slow.

Greece steadily in lead in Southeastern Europe

In the region tracked by Balkan Green Energy News, Greece was steadily in the lead in 2020 when it comes to renewable energy. For instance, it was eighth in the world by the share of electricity produced from solar, almost one third. But when it comes to total investment in green energy, Turkey was 14th on a global scale last year with USD 4.7 billion, and also 14th when the past five years are combined.

Turkey was 14th in the world last year when it comes to total investment in renewables

Climatescope is published with an up-to-date list of the best destinations for investment in renewable electricity. Greece came in sixth in the world, while Croatia is 16th. As for the rest of the Balkan countries covered in the report, North Macedonia is 21st, followed by Albania (33), Turkey (34), Slovenia (40), Bulgaria (66), Serbia (77), Romania (82) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (100).

Slovenia ranks highest in Balkans in transportation category

When it comes to the overall ranking of the conditions for energy transition investment, which includes the transportation and buildings sectors, Greece is also doing best – it landed at the 12th position, and Croatia is 23rd. Next are Slovenia (28), North Macedonia (32), Romania (41), Bulgaria (46), Albania (59), Serbia (66), Turkey (67) and BiH (86).

Slovenia has the highest position in transportation, number 18, one step ahead of Greece. Romania did pretty well in the section – it is 24th in the list, while Turkey was the worst in the region, at 120.

In the buildings category there are only 56 markets in the chart, and Greece is ranked the highest in Southeastern Europe, at number 20.