Since 1995, wind power has benefited to the tune of US$80.7 billion in project finance allocation from the World Bank on 565 different projects around the world. Brazil has been the single largest beneficiary of these investments, receiving US$24.2 billion (30.0% of total) between 1998 – 2018 and adding more than 4.5GW of wind energy to their allocation of 14.1GW at the end of 2018. The remainder of capacity additions in Brazil were completed through a combination of public and private finance from other sources.
Geographically, the Americas received a total of US$35.3 billion (43.7% of total), followed by Asia Pacific with US$20.7 billion (25.6% of total), Eastern Europe with US$13.0 billion (16.1% of total) and lastly Africa & the Middle East with US$11.7 billion (14.5% of total).
Africa & the Middle East are poised to see increased allocation of World Bank resources as capacity in Brazil ramps down along with a chill in the enthusiasm for renewables in some historically robust Eastern European markets.
Eastern Europe has seen fewer investments and those which are smaller in magnitude since their peak in 2012. Since then, the investment focus was shifted towards Asia Pacific as well as the Americas, with the latest trend in deal frequency and size favoring Africa & the Middle East.
Some investments in Turkey, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and especially the Ukraine are likely to help bolster Europe, albeit at levels of investment lower than were seen historically. Investment in the Americas has been trending downward somewhat in deal volume, but they have maintained a reasonable and robust share of the overall annual allocation.
While South Africa has dominated in the African region, countries such as Egypt, Morocco and Senegal are poised to see significant project finance allocation as well. Plus, with new green bond offerings in Nigeria, and ongoing development work in Jordan, there will be many additional opportunities for investment throughout the region to supplement local market activity.
Vietnam, the Russian Federation, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines are likely to be the biggest recipients of World Bank project finance investments in the Asia Pacific region moving forward, in spite of a reduction in the magnitude of overall geographic portfolio allocation there.
