Renewable energy investment funds are warming up

The green energy sector is growing, but investors shouldn’t rush in to renewable energy investment funds.

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In the 2018 heatwave, solar energy made up 27% of electricity generated
(Image credit: Copyright (c) 2018 Shutterstock. No use without permission.)

Electricity generation from renewables rose more than 10% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018 in the UK to comprise more than 30% of the total. In the summer heatwave, the share of solar energy alone reached 27% at times. Although the share of renewables in total energy consumption (electricity, heat and transport) was just 1% in 2004, this had risen to 10% by 2017, and the government wants it to reach 15% by 2020.

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Max King
Investment Writer

Max has an Economics degree from the University of Cambridge and is a chartered accountant. He worked at Investec Asset Management for 12 years, managing multi-asset funds investing in internally and externally managed funds, including investment trusts. This included a fund of investment trusts which grew to £120m+. Max has managed ten investment trusts (winning many awards) and sat on the boards of three trusts – two directorships are still active.

After 39 years in financial services, including 30 as a professional fund manager, Max took semi-retirement in 2017. Max has been a MoneyWeek columnist since 2016 writing about investment funds and more generally on markets online, plus occasional opinion pieces. He also writes for the Investment Trust Handbook each year and has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and other publications. See here for details of current investments held by Max.