Chinese firms struggle to fund renewables projects overseas

(Eco Business, 13 Apr 2020) Difficulty in obtaining financing, or sovereign guarantees from host nations, is impacting on the ‘bankability’ of BRI renewables projects, report finds.

Chinese renewable energy firms are booming at home but not overseas. Domestic solar and wind capacity have come on in leaps and bounds, with the proportion of coal power in the energy mix on the wane and a transition to low-carbon power clearly underway.

Yet overseas, and particularly in countries covered by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s renewables investments are just getting started, and lagging far behind the country’s extensive coal power projects.

One important factor holding renewables back is financing. In late March, a report by Tsinghua University’s Research Centre for Green Finance Development and environmental thinktank Greenovation Hub, showed China’s overseas renewable projects face obstacles in the power markets of host nations, and that finance is difficult to obtain and expensive.

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Eco Business, 13 Apr 2020: Chinese firms struggle to fund renewables projects overseas