China tops renewable energy index

China will remain the world’s leading renewable energy market at least until 2020.

The recently released Global Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices Report said China will continue to dominate the global renewable energy market. The All Renewable Index (ARI) shows that China has quadrupled its solar capacity target to 50GW by 2020 but will have to overcome the problems caused by an oversupply of wind turbines to reach this goal.

The United States and Germany are tied for second on the ARI list followed by India and the United Kingdom.

The rise in Germany’s score was a result of the government’s approach to addressing barriers to offshore wind development and stability in its solar market. Germany is also pushing ahead with its ambitious renewable energy agenda that includes the introduction of a new solar PV tariff and compensation for offshore grid connection delays.

On the other hand, the US is mired by persistent uncertainty in its long-term energy strategy and a failure to indicate if there will be an extension to the Production Tax Credit for wind projects.