US Clean Energy Private Investment

Canary Media: “Chart: US sets new records with $71 B in clean energy investment.” Note the chart is set with each bar representing one quarter; ‘in the first quarter of this year, private investors poured 40% more money into clean energy and electric vehicles than they did in Q1 2023.’ In this first quarter private [not federal or state] investment in clean energy + EVs reached $71 billion. “According to a recent report by the Clean Investment Monitor, a joint project of the Rhodium Group and MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, the figures for Q1 represent almost a 40 percent increase from the first quarter of 2023.” The clean energy investment side is categorized into three buckets: ‘manufacturing emissions-reducing technologies, deployment of clean energy and industrial decarbonization technologies, and retail sales — purchases of clean technology by individual households and businesses.’ Retail made up the largest investment, “with $31 billion in sales of zero-emissions vehicles, solar and storage, and heat pumps registered in the quarter.” The EV supply chain, ‘including critical minerals, batteries, vehicle assembly, and charging equipment, dominated the clean manufacturing sector, making up 85% of those $17 billion invested.’ But while zero-emissions vehicle sales are on track to reach climate goals, clean energy deployments are not. “The report calls for average annual capacity additions of 70 to 126 gigawatts between 2025 and 2030 — that’s more than twice the amount of clean energy the country added last year.” There is a lot of positive progress, but let’s not be too pollyanish here, there is still a lot of heavy lifting to accomplish.