New Energy Finance Summit: The Book 2009

A special publication documenting the 2009 Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit, which took place in London from 4 to 6 March.

FOREWORD BY MICHAEL LIEBREICH, CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Welcome to our special publication containing the findings and results of the second New Energy Finance Summit and Awards Dinner, held on 4, 5 and 6 March 2009.

Our second annual event brought together around 275 thought leaders from across clean energy and the carbon markets: new and traditional energy executives, investors, policy-makers and regulators. It was a little bigger than last year’s event, but still offered plenty of opportunity for robust discussion and interaction.

For me the most fascinating part of the Summit was the interplay of optimism and pessimism among the attendees. The challenge facing the sector looks far bigger than it did a year ago. Just as investment has started to relieve the supply-side bottlenecks of the past few years, the triple whammy of falling oil prices, the re-pricing of risk and the drying up of debt finance conspired to slam the brakes on the demand side.

And yet the point was made repeatedly that the clean energy sector is here to stay, unlike previous recessions, when enthusiasm for renewable energy melted away faster than an ice-sculpture at a Dubai beach restaurant, as soon as the oil price dropped. This time, clean energy is seen not just as a way of combating climate change while simultaneously improving energy security, but also as an engine of job creation and economic recovery.

At the same time, we are seeing startling drops in the cost of clean energy – drops that are perhaps overdue but are finally revealing the progress wind, biofuels and solar PV have made towards unsubsidised competitiveness. And jostling in the wings, offshore wind, carbon capture and storage, cellulosic biofuels and electric vehicles are waiting for their turn in the limelight.

But it was not all optimism. We also heard that even though the industry is expected to be one of the sectors to lead the world economy out of recession, investment activity is not on track to see peak CO2 emissions from the energy sector by 2020.

All in all, though, this remains a great sector. There are not many other industries that can look forward to such an attractive future.

I hope you had fun at the New Energy Finance Summit and Awards Dinner 2009 and learned as much as we did. These pages are intended to capture some of the atmosphere, lessons and interactions that played out at Vinopolis and on board the Silver Sturgeon.

Summit 2010 is currently scheduled to take place on 3-5 March in London. Once again the Summit will be kept small and designed around interaction and debate, with a bigger gala dinner where we can celebrate success and let our hair down. We have lots of ideas we want to try out; if you have any suggestions, please let us know.

Enjoy this book, and we hope to see you all in London next year!

Please download the full report for more detailed coverage on the 2009 Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit.

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