Green energy to power ahead of market trends

The combination of rising demand for energy, pressure on business from international governments, and environmental constraints, will create a "megatrend" for renewable energy, according to Philippe De Weck, from Pictet, one of Switzerland's largest private banks.

"The drivers are in place for energy demand and energy supply to make this a megatrend that will outperform the market over the next decade."

Mr De Weck said construction and servicing of wind turbines and the assembly of solar panel units all presented strong investment opportunities.

Pictet will continue to invest in environmental megatrends and Mr De Weck said they look closely at firms' intellectual property and distribution channels before investing.

He also said that backers were regaining confidence in green technologies after a tough year.

"We think 2009 was a year of transformation. The financial crisis had a big impact. It is certainly a sector that was affected by the credit crisis. No bank was lending and that hit the growth of the sector.

"We are now seeing the financing coming back. These projects are low risk and attractive."

Mr De Weck, speaking at the Unique Boutiques conference, at Rudding Park, near Harrogate, also likened the development of green energy generation, particularly in solar panels, to the emergence of mobile phones in the 1990s.

"Technology will drive the cost down and create economies of scale."

Alkane Energy and Hargreaves Services are among those developing clean energy in this region.

Aim-listed Alkane, which captures coal mine methane and uses it as a fuel for electricity generation and industrial heating, has 15 licences to extract gas from sites, including in Yorkshire and Derbyshire, and plans to

treble revenues over the next three to four years.

Hargreaves Services, which owns Maltby colliery and employs more than 1,000 people in the region, is helping to drive the green power revolution through its Rocpower venture.

It recently launched its first power plant, in Wakefield. Rocpower capitalises on Government support for small distributed renewable power plants. The eight megawatt Wakefield plant provides enough electricity to continually heat 15,000 homes. In its first year of production, it could generate revenues of 4m.

Mr De Weck also highlighted energy efficient lighting and transport as sectors where growth would outstrip the rest of the market, and said that the ordinary domestic lightbulb was likely to see a growth in demand because 80 per cent of its energy was wasted on generating heat rather than light.