Businesses in the clean energy sector got some good news about their future recently. According to “Clean Energy Trends 2008” a study produced by Clean Edge, the global clean energy market will be worth $254.5 billion by 2017. That's more than triple what it's worth today.

The report says the solar photovoltaic, wind, biofuels and fuel cell industries are leading the charge. In 2006, the three sectors were worth $55 billion worldwide. In 2007, their value jumped 40 percent to $77.3 billion. The wind industry alone was worth $30 billion and installed more than 20,000 megawatts (MW) worth of wind turbines in 2007, according to the Clean Edge report.

The solar and the biofuels industries also topped $20 billion each last year. New solar panels in 2007 accounted for slightly less than 3,000 MW of generation capacity. The biofuels market supplied the market with 13 billion gallons of ethanol and 2 billion gallons of biodiesel last year.

New investments in clean energy technologies expanded by 60 percent to almost $150 billion in 2007, Clean Edge says. In the United States, venture capitalists invested nearly $3 billion in the clean energy sector last year, accounting for 9 percent of venture capital investments overall.

At this pace of growth, Clean Edge expects the biofuels sector, which it defines as the production and wholesale pricing of ethanol and biodiesel, to be worth $81 billion by 2017. The wind power industry will grow to $83 billion, solar to 74 billion and the fuel cell industry, which is now reliant on research contracts and demonstration units, is expected to reach $16 billion in the next decade.

Get the report here.