In this year’s kickoff Cleanwatch newsletter we are posting the top 10 stories from 2011. These are the 10 most widely clicked-on Clean Edge news stories from our newsletter over the last year. And they are a telling indicator of what people are most interested in, and perhaps more importantly, a view on things to come.

Just look at the top 10 story headlines. Eight of the top headlines had to do with financing and the majority had to do with scale: the establishment of a $1.4 billion clean-energy investment fund by a new clean-tech syndicate; a $1.4 billion loan guarantee to rooftop solar by the DOE; a joint investment vehicle announced by legendary investor George Soros; and a multi-billion dollar solar acquisition by oil giant Total.

Here’s the entire list (and you can find all of these stories and links in the news section):

1.       Cleantech Syndicate Forms $1.4 Billion Clean Energy Investment Fund
2.       Department of Energy Finalizes Loan Guarantee to Support World's Largest Wind Project
3.       U.S. Slides to Third in Clean-Energy Race
4.       In U.S. Domestic Renewable Energy Production Surpasses Nuclear and Closes in on Oil
5.       DOE Commits $1.4 Billion for Rooftop Solar Project
6.       Silver Lake and Soros Launch Clean Energy Fund
7.       Google Ventures Leads $20 Million Financing for CoolPlanetBiofuels
8.       Clean Energy Investment Reaches New Record in 2010
9.       French Energy Firm Total to Acquire Control of California-Based SunPower
10.     Desalination Plants to Attract $87.8 Billion in Investment by 2016

It might not be a surprise that Clean Edge readers, who are focused on the intersection of technology, policy, and capital – and include many investors across the investment value chain (VCs, fund managers, project financiers, etc.) – would pick finance-related stories as their top picks. So I did some digging around, and it seems that interest in these stories demonstrated a marked increase over attention to financing in the top 10 stories of 2010 (where half of the top stories related to technology developments).

Just look at the two other most-read stories of last year and it becomes clear that our readers are most interested in the transition of clean energy from a niche, marginalized industry into a mainstream and well-financed saleable one. One story (which is really a finance and competitive positioning story rolled into one) showed the U.S. slipping to third place in the amount of private investment in clean energy among G-20 economies. According to research by The Pew Charitable Trusts, using Bloomberg New Energy Finance data, the U.S. fell from the top spot to third in 2010, with China becoming the clear global leader, followed by Germany moving up one spot to second place.  Another top story was about a major milestone showing renewables (including hydro), for the first time ever, providing more to U.S. domestic energy consumption (including electricity, heat, and fuels) than the nuclear power industry.

As I said earlier, this proclivity toward large finance stories shouldn’t be a surprise for our audience. But I think it demonstrates a broader shift that we all need to be cognizant of as we move into 2012. Here are my topline thoughts about this scaling of clean-tech finance:

• Clean tech has reached an inflection point where it is solidly moving into the mainstream. In the U.S., the renewables-passing-nuclear milestone, and moving in on oil, is perhaps the best indicator of this historic shift.
• The clean-energy industry is moving from small, distributed, non-standardized, installations to utility-wide and utility-scale installations. This trend has been in the works for the past five years, and is now increasingly becoming embedded in the actions of companies and financiers. In recent days, First Solar announced it will focus on utility-scale projects that can compete without the need for subsidies, Bank of America Merrill Lynch announced plans to support the financing of solar systems on U.S. military barracks with up to 300 MW of new installations over the next five years, and Warren Buffett invested $2 billion in a utility-scale solar farm.
• Significant competition in clean-tech markets in Germany, China, and elsewhere means that the U.S. can’t be complacent or it risks falling further behind. In order to remain competitive, the U.S. at the very least will need to extend production tax credits for wind and other clean-energy sources, and introduce a national renewable portfolio standard.
• In 2012, the streamlining of finance and the setting of commonly agreed-upon standards will be a critical component to lowering costs and increasing installations. New and emerging financing structures, including green banks, clean-energy REITs, clean energy-focused master limited partnerships, and next-generation power purchase agreement schemes will be central to financing the next wave of domestic deployment.
• We are less technology-dependent than we are finance-dependent. By that I mean we already have many of the technologies we need to grow the market in solar, wind, and energy efficiency – notwithstanding the need for new energy storage technologies, next-generation electric vehicles, and other innovative breakthroughs.

As demonstrated by our readers’ top news picks, I believe that the next few years will be the years of clean-tech finance and scale up. The countries and corporations that actively support and pursue a financial shift toward clean, renewable, energy-efficient product and services, and away from polluting industries like coal, oil, untapped landfills, and yes, tar sands, will be the clear leaders moving forward  and will gain a significant and difficult-to-overcome global competitive advantage.

----------
Ron Pernick is cofounder and managing director of clean-tech research and advisory firm Clean Edge and co-author (with Clint Wilder) of the highly acclaimed business book The Clean Tech Revolution and the forthcoming book Clean Tech Nation.