According to a study performed by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (Bloomberg), total global investments in renewable energy rose for the first time in three years in 2014. Despite falling oil prices and falling investments in renewables over the past few years due to sharp declines in the price of solar systems and policy uncertainly in many countries, investments in wind, solar, biofuels, and other renewable technologies rose 16% to $US 310 billion. Some highlights from the data:

• Investments in offshore wind set a record at $19.4 billion
• China’s investments increased 32% to a record $89.5 billion
• Japan’s investments increased 12% to $41.3 billion
• South Africa’s investments increased 5% to $5.5 billion
• Brazil’s investments increased 88% to $7.9 billion

The largest category of investment was large-scale solar and onshore wind projects, while the second-largest category of investment was small-scale distributed capacity (think rooftop solar). Solar made up nearly half of total investment in 2014, with wind and energy smart technologies, such as smart grid and power storage, following closely behind.

It seems that the push for renewables is beating out falling oil prices, partly because technologies such as solar are much more cost competitive than they have been in the past. According to Michael Liebreich, chairman of the advisory board for Bloomberg, “Healthy investment in clean energy may surprise some commentators, who have been predicting trouble for renewables as a result of the oil price collapse since last summer. Our answer is that 2014 was too early to see any noticeable effect on investment, and anyway, the impact of cheaper crude will be felt much more in road transport than in electricity generation.”