Review of renewable energy investment and financing in China: Status, mode, issues and countermeasures

With the support of national policies, China's renewable energy generation industry has experienced a rapid development period and entered the world forefront level, especially in the aspects of installed capacity and speed of newly installed capacity. However, with the rapid development of renewable energy, the power generation industry is facing more and more challenges, particularly in investment and financing. As for wind power industry, there are also some problems such as single financing channels, blindness of projects investment and so on, which will result in financing difficulties for some advanced projects. In addition, the problems for the investment of photovoltaic (PV) power generation leads to vicious competition and a tumble in international market, thus the overcapacity of China's entire PV industry emerges. Generally speaking, the renewable energy industry is facing a seemingly contradictory predicament of funding deficiencies and blind investment, which is derived from the government-centered renewable energy investment and financing. This government-centered mode has promoted the development of renewable energy industry in the early stage, but it cannot be adapted to the requirements of sustainable development. In view of these, the problems of renewable energy investment and financing are deeply studied in this paper. This paper proceeds as follows: Firstly, the overview of the development of China's renewable energy industry is briefly introduced. Secondly, the status quo of China's renewable energy investment and financing is explored in detail based on overview of the following five perspectives: investment situation; investment and financing bodies; investment and financing means; sources of funding and financing channels. Secondly, the patterns and characteristics of renewable energy financing are summarized and a comparative analysis of wind power and photovoltaic power generation financing means is carried out. Finally, renewable energy investment and financing issues are discussed and further feasible proposals are put forward. In all, this paper is of great significance in the sustainable and healthy development of China's renewable energy. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.