Renewable energy investment holds at $327.5bn as co-located solar and storage sets a record
BloombergNEF put first-half 2026 renewable energy investment at $327.5bn, with a record $25bn into co-located solar and storage and solar financing down 20%.
Photo by Mark Stebnicki on Pexels
Global renewable energy investment reached $327.5 billion in the first half of 2026, level with the preceding six months but 21 per cent below the peak set in the second half of 2024. The figures come from BloombergNEF’s latest Renewable Energy Investment Tracker, “1H 2026 Renewable Energy Investment Tracker: Co-Located Solar and Storage Booms”, summarised in a BloombergNEF analysis published on 26 August 2026. One line in the data moved sharply upward: projects pairing solar generation with batteries on the same site drew a record $25 billion, nearly double second-half 2025 levels and triple the first half of 2025.
Everything else in the utility-scale mix fell. Standalone utility-scale solar financing dropped 20 per cent year on year to $75.4 billion, which BloombergNEF called the lowest volume since the solar boom began in 2021. Wind investment reached $92.3 billion, down 27 per cent, with offshore wind down 72 per cent and onshore wind down 4 per cent to $80.7 billion. BloombergNEF attributed the offshore collapse to a cancelled auction in Denmark and a failed auction in Germany, alongside higher capital expenditure and financing costs.
What the renewable energy investment numbers show
The clearest structural signal in the data is what standalone projects no longer account for. BloombergNEF noted that asset finance for stand-alone utility-scale solar and onshore wind, which usually makes up two thirds of annual investment, again accounted for less than half of investment in the first half of 2026. It linked the shift to tighter scrutiny of revenue risks and returns. Concerns about curtailment, power price cannibalisation and grid congestion pushed asset finance down in several markets, particularly China, Brazil and parts of Europe.
| Segment | First half 2026 | Change year on year |
|---|---|---|
| Total renewable energy investment | $327.5bn | Level with second half 2025; 21% below the second-half 2024 peak |
| Standalone utility-scale solar | $75.4bn | Down 20%, lowest since 2021 |
| Wind, all types | $92.3bn | Down 27% |
| Onshore wind | $80.7bn | Down 4% |
| Offshore wind | Not disclosed | Down 72% |
| Co-located solar and storage | $25bn | Record; nearly double second half 2025, triple first half 2025 |
| Biofuels | $7.7bn | Highest level since second half 2008 |
Source: BloombergNEF, “1H 2026 Renewable Energy Investment Tracker”, 26 August 2026. Segment figures are asset finance; the headline total also includes small-scale solar, venture and private equity, and public market activity.
Where the money went
The United States was the second-largest market in the first half of 2026, behind China and ahead of the European Union, with investment up 54 per cent year on year. Solar investment there rose 41 per cent to a record $45.8 billion and wind investment more than doubled to $13.8 billion. BloombergNEF named the United States and Australia as the leaders in co-located solar and storage investment in 2026.
China moved the other way. It accounted for a quarter of global investment in the first half of 2026, down from more than half in 2022. Smaller markets picked up part of the difference. Vietnam’s investment rose fourfold, and with growth in Malaysia and the Philippines, Southeast Asian investment crossed $12 billion. Central Asia exceeded $4 billion for the second consecutive half year, on the strength of onshore wind activity in Kazakhstan. Brazil drove global biofuels investment to $7.7 billion, the highest since the second half of 2008. In sub-Saharan Africa, BloombergNEF listed Nigeria among the markets seeing a small-scale solar boom, as rising fuel prices linked to the Iran war improved the economics of solar and storage for backup power.
The report does not put a year-on-year figure on the global headline number, comparing it only with the preceding half year and the 2024 peak. BloombergNEF also does not name an analyst in the piece; its stated conclusion is that “the broader growth story for renewables remains intact despite policy changes in key markets like the US and China”.
Coverage of the same dataset by Saur Energy on 27 August reproduced the headline figures but placed the $92.3 billion wind total in Europe rather than globally, and described the solar figure as one of the lowest since 2021 rather than the lowest. BloombergNEF’s own text is global and unqualified on both points.
Why co-location is the exception
The batteries changing the arithmetic are the same ones reshaping how solar output is sold. Winss Solutions has reported that an Ember analysis found batteries have unlocked anytime solar and that solar and storage set new records in the first half of 2026 on the deployment side. The pressures pushing standalone projects down are visible in the same period: rising curtailment in China accompanied the increase in Chinese CO2 as renewable curtailment climbed in 2026. Where a project can shift output into higher-priced hours, the revenue risk that deterred standalone financing is reduced.
Not every part of the capital stack contracted. Equity flowing into early-stage companies rose over the same window, with climate tech venture funding reaching $26.1bn in the first half of 2026, a different asset class from the project finance that dominates the tracker.
BloombergNEF expects new renewable capacity additions in 2026 to fall below the 2025 level, which would be the first year-on-year decline in more than a decade, and describes the setback as temporary, with additions rising again from 2027.
About BloombergNEF and this dataset
BloombergNEF is a research provider within Bloomberg L.P. covering commodity markets and low-carbon technologies across power, transport, industry, buildings and agriculture. Its About page states it has been doing so for more than 20 years; secondary accounts date the predecessor firm New Energy Finance to 2004 and its acquisition by Bloomberg to December 2009, which BloombergNEF does not confirm on its own pages. Its quarterly investment series runs from the first quarter of 2004.
The Renewable Energy Investment Tracker is published twice a year and covers project and asset investment plus corporate fundraising in renewables. BloombergNEF defines asset finance as the new-build financing of renewable generating projects, including electricity and biofuels production assets, whether financed on balance sheet or through project finance, syndicated institutional equity or bank-underwritten project bonds. Its asset finance database excludes projects below roughly 1 MW, and small-scale solar figures are top-down analyst estimates.
The tracker sits alongside the annual Energy Transition Investment Trends report, which on 26 January 2026 put global energy transition investment at a record $2.3 trillion for 2025, up 8 per cent, with electrified transport at $893 billion, renewable energy at $690 billion, and grids at $483 billion. Those figures use a different scope and period from the half-year tracker and are not directly comparable with the $327.5 billion reported here. In the earlier edition of the tracker, published on 26 August 2025, BloombergNEF’s head of clean power Meredith Annex said investors and developers were “rethinking capital allocation and putting their money where project returns are strongest”. The first-half 2026 numbers show where that has led: into projects that come with a battery attached.
Sources: BloombergNEF; Saur Energy; BloombergNEF; BloombergNEF; BloombergNEF, Renewable Energy Investment Tracker methodology
Featured image: photo by Mark Stebnicki on Pexels (free Pexels license).
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I specialize in sustainability education, curriculum co-creation, and early-stage project strategy. At WINSS, I craft articles on sustainability, transformative AI, and related topics. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me chasing the perfect sushi roll, exploring cities around the globe, or unwinding with my dog Puffy — the world’s most loyal sidekick.
