TOTAL corporate funding in the global solar sector including India grew nearly three-folds to $13.5 billion (£9.7bn) during January-June 2021, according to a report.
In the year ago period the investment in the sector was $4.6bn (£3.3bn), clean energy consulting firm Mercom Capital Group said in a report.
"Funding was up across the board in the first half of 2021 compared to last year, which was severely affected by the pandemic. Corporate M&A activity was up with solar developers expanding their pipelines, oil and gas companies diversifying into renewables, and funds buying up renewable assets," news agency PTI quoted Raj Prabhu, chief executive officer of Mercom Capital Group as saying.
"The transition from fossil fuels to renewables and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing trends made an impact on financing as well as merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, " Prabhu said.
According to the report, the venture capital funding during January-June rose by 680 per cent to $1.6bn (£1.2bn) in 26 deals, compared to the $210 million (£151m) in 14 deals in 2020.
Public market financing in the solar sector in the first half of 2021 was 386 per cent higher with $3.7bn (£2.7bn) raised in 13 deals compared to $758m (£547m) in six deals in the same period last year.
It further said there were 34 solar corporate M&A transactions in April-June 2021, against 20 in January-March 2021 and 13 transactions in April-June 2020.
