Clean-Energy Industry in the Doldrums

Investment in renewable energy has hit a lull as private-sector money is drying up, but the bulk of government funding has yet to arrive.

There was $13.3 billion in new investments in clean energy — the term used to describe alternative energy such as wind farms, solar power and biofuels facilities — in the first three months of 2009, down 53%, from a year earlier, according to a report Thursday from research firm New Energy Finance Ltd. The drop came mostly in bank-based financing for building new projects, the report says, as the credit crunch has caught up with this once high-flying sector.

By RUSSELL GOLD

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