Drivers and sensitivities
01 / DRIVERS- Falling solar and storage equipment costs
- Electricity demand growth and incomplete grid access in emerging markets
- Corporate and sovereign decarbonisation commitments
- Concessional and development finance for first-of-a-kind projects
- Interest rates and cost of capital, because projects are capital intensive
- Currency risk when revenues are local and equipment is imported
- Fuel import prices, which set the competing cost of power
- Credit quality of the off-taker
Editorial summary. Qualitative drivers are general industry context written by Invest Global, last reviewed 2026-10-08. They are not forecasts. Figures elsewhere on this page are sourced and dated.
Key risks
02 / RISKS- Off-taker payment risk and tariff renegotiation
- Grid curtailment and transmission bottlenecks
- Currency convertibility and repatriation limits
- Policy reversals on feed-in tariffs or auctions
- Supply chain and trade measure exposure
Investing in frontier and emerging markets carries significant risk, including total loss. This list is illustrative and not exhaustive.
Value chain
03 / STAGES- Resource assessment and development
- Equipment manufacturing
- Construction and grid connection
- Generation and storage operation
- Transmission, distribution and retail supply
Top exposed countries
04 / 190 SCOREDRanked by exposure score, a weighted percentile of sourced indicators. Select Sources on any row to see each input, its period, source and as-of date.
| # | Country | Score | Band | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Namibia | 75 | High | Renewables supply 97.6% of electricity; 59.3% of the population has electricity access (2024). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 02 |  Democratic Republic of the Congo | 74 | High | Renewables supply 100.0% of electricity; 22.5% of the population has electricity access (2024). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 03 |  Kenya | 69 | High | Renewables supply 90.0% of electricity; 77.0% of the population has electricity access (2024, 2025). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 04 |  Sierra Leone | 69 | High | Renewables supply 95.2% of electricity; 39.2% of the population has electricity access (2024). |
| 05 |  Chile | 67 | High | Renewables supply 66.4% of electricity; wind and solar supply 38.1% of electricity (2025). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 06 |  Djibouti | 67 | High | 69.2% of the population has electricity access; renewables supply 35.0% of electricity (2024). |
| 07 |  El Salvador | 66 | High | Renewables supply 86.8% of electricity; wind and solar supply 23.7% of electricity (2025). |
| 08 |  Afghanistan | 65 | High | Renewables supply 86.9% of electricity; 87.8% of the population has electricity access (2024). |
| 09 |  Uganda | 65 | High | Renewables supply 97.1% of electricity; 55.3% of the population has electricity access (2024). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 10 |  Brazil | 64 | High | Renewables supply 86.6% of electricity; wind and solar supply 27.5% of electricity (2025). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 11 |  Ethiopia | 64 | High | Renewables supply 100.0% of electricity; 56.6% of the population has electricity access (2024, 2025). |
| 12 |  Nicaragua | 64 | High | Renewables supply 62.4% of electricity; 88.7% of the population has electricity access (2024). |
Exposure scores describe how large and relevant a sector is in a country's economy and opportunity set relative to other countries. They are not a measure of attractiveness, expected return or risk. Educational content only, not investment advice.
Largest markets by scale
05 / 184 RANKEDExposure scores show relative weight. This ranking shows absolute size on one sourced measure: renewable electricity generation. Ember yearly electricity data: hydro, wind, solar, bioenergy and other renewables.
| # | Country | Renewable electricity generation | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  China | 2025 | |
| 02 |  United States of America | 2025 | |
| 03 | Brazil | 2025 | |
| 04 |  India | 2025 | |
| 05 |  Canada | 2025 | |
| 06 |  Germany | 2025 | |
| 07 |  Japan | 2025 | |
| 08 |  Russia | 2025 | |
| 09 |  Spain | 2025 | |
| 10 |  Norway | 2025 | |
| 11 |  Turkey | 2025 | |
| 12 |  United Kingdom | 2025 |
Derived from the cited sources as described above. A larger economy ranks higher on absolute measures even when the sector is a smaller share of its output.
Top listed companies
06 / PLAYERSLargest listed companies tagged to this sector in the Invest Global capital markets dataset, ranked by market capitalisation in US dollars. Coverage is the markets in that dataset, so it is not a global census.
| # | Company | Country | Market cap | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Iberdrola IBE | Spain | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 02 | Enel ENEL |  Italy | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 03 | TAQA TAQA |  United Arab Emirates | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 04 | Endesa ELE | Spain | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 05 | Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) DEWA | United Arab Emirates | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 06 | ACWA POWER Company 2082 |  Saudi Arabia | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 07 | ČEZ Group CEZ |  Czechia | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 08 | Vestas Wind Systems VWS |  Denmark | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 09 | Ørsted ORSTED | Denmark | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 10 | Gulf Development Public Company GULF |  Thailand | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 11 | Verbund AG VER |  Austria | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 12 | Fortum FORTUM |  Finland | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 13 | PT Barito Renewables Energy Tbk BREN |  Indonesia | Industry: Utilities - Renewable | |
| 14 | EDP Group EDP |  Portugal | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 15 | Tenaga Nasional TENAGA |  Malaysia | Invest Global sector tag |
Not recommendations. A list of the largest companies is not a list of suggested investments. Sector tags marked Invest Global are an editorial classification of each company's main business. Market capitalisation is a snapshot, not a live quote.
Regulatory considerations
07 / REGULATION- Power purchase agreements and auction rules define revenue
- Independent power producer frameworks differ by country
- Utility sectors are often state controlled, with licensing and tariff regulators
- Land, water and environmental permitting
The OECD FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index scores 105 economies from 0 (open) to 1 (closed). The median is , with a range of 0.00 to 0.74. The table above notes the score under each top market where it is covered. Sector-specific restrictions vary and are set out in the OECD regulatory database.
Regulatory summaries are general and change often. Confirm current rules with local counsel. Not legal advice.
Typical entry routes
08 / ACCESS- Listed utilities and renewable developers
- Thematic clean energy funds and exchange-traded products
- Project finance and infrastructure funds
- Green and sustainability-linked bonds
- iShares Global Clean Energy ETFiSHARES TRUST
- Invesco Solar ETFInvesco Exchange-Traded Fund Trust II
- First Trust Nasdaq Clean Edge Green Energy Index FundFIRST TRUST EXCHANGE-TRADED FUND
- State Street Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETFSELECT SECTOR SPDR TRUST
- Vanguard Utilities Index FundVANGUARD WORLD FUND
Examples, not recommendations. Each fund is confirmed in the SEC series and class file. These are US-listed funds whose holdings are mostly developed-market issuers; check each prospectus for current holdings, fees and domicile. No prices, yields or fees are shown because none are verified here.
Sourced charts
09 / DATACharts show historical data from the cited sources. Past levels do not indicate future results. Commodity series are World Bank nominal US dollar monthly benchmarks.
Method and sources
10 / FORMULAEach score is a weighted average of percentile ranks. For every indicator, a country's latest observation (not older than 2014) is ranked against all other countries with data (mid-rank percentile, 0 to 1). Where a lower raw value signals more headroom (for example electricity access), the rank is inverted. The weighted average of the available percentiles is scaled to 0 to 100. A cell is published only if indicators holding at least 60 percent of the weight are available; otherwise the country is omitted for that sector.
| Indicator | Weight | Direction | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renewables share of electricity generation | 35% | Scale (higher raw value scores higher) | Ember, Yearly Electricity Data |
| Access to electricity | 25% | Headroom (lower raw value scores higher) | World Bank, World Development Indicators |
| Wind and solar share of electricity generation | 20% | Scale (higher raw value scores higher) | Ember, Yearly Electricity Data |
| Power sector CO2 intensity | 20% | Scale (higher raw value scores higher) | Ember, Yearly Electricity Data |
The score describes how large and relevant a sector is in a country's economy and opportunity set, relative to other countries. It is not a measure of attractiveness, return or risk, and it is not investment advice.
- Ember, Yearly Electricity Data CC BY 4.0
- U.S. SEC, Investment Company Series and Class Information U.S. Government work, public domain
- companiesmarketcap.com (via the Invest Global capital markets dataset) Third-party data carried over from the existing Invest Global capital markets dataset; reuse licence to be confirmed
- OECD FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index CC BY 4.0 (OECD content published from 1 July 2024)
- World Bank, World Development Indicators CC BY 4.0
Data version 2026-10-09. Every datapoint carries its source and as-of date; hover or tap a dotted value to see them.