Identifying the best financing sources for renewable energy companies in Latin American Countries

The main purpose of this study is to identify the best financing source in order to start a new renewable energy project in Latin America countries. In this case, a large literature on related subject is reviewed. As the result of this analysis, the most-used ways to fund a renewable energy project are determined. By selecting 5 funding options among them, an analysis has been conducted by using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method in order to weight these criteria set. The findings indicate that government grants and subsidies play the most significant role in order to fund a renewable energy project. In addition to this situation, it is also concluded that using bank loans is another important way for this issue. On the other side, crowdfunding, angel investors and venture capital are on the last ranks in this regard. By taking account these results, it can be said that to increase renewable energy projects government should take actions, give some incentives and facilities government-backed funds for green investors. The biggest disadvantage of renewable energy investments is the high costs. In such investments, especially the initial setup costs are very high. In this context, the tax reduction to be provided by the government to renewable energy investors will contribute to these companies gaining a serious cost advantage. On the other hand, interest-free loans to be given to these investors by the state will also help to increase the efficiency in this process.