Where to find sustainable growth in renewable energy

The renewable energy sector has come a long way, but there is still plenty of momentum in funds and utility stocks.

Onshore wind turbines
Many onshore wind farms no longer require subsidies
(Image credit: © Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

When the coalition government set a target of 30% of the UK’s electricity supply to be met from renewable resources by 2020, it was ridiculed. In 2010, renewables had accounted for just 7% of supply. The target seemed absurdly ambitious and ruinously expensive given that renewable energy required heavy subsidies. Yet renewable generation reached 45% of supply this year and our carbon emissions have fallen by 29% in ten years. Such has been the fall in equipment and installation costs that a rising number of new onshore wind and solar farms are subsidy-free.

Power at a premium

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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.