The picture was not uniformly bleak, with a number ofimportant markets such as Germany, Japan and the UK notching up gains,according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

The single largest deal secured globally during the firstquarter was the $1.9bn financing of WPD’s 288MW Butendiek project in the GermanNorth Sea.

That deal was followed by the $390m financing of an onshorewind farm in Mexico by Spanish energy firm Gas Natural Fenosa, and then a $345minvestment into a 70MW Kyocera-led PV park in Japan.

Indeed,