Investment in renewable energy in Australia rose to a new high in 2017 but there are concerns investment will collapse under the National Energy Guarantee in its current form.

Annual figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) reveal a 150 per cent increase in Australia's investment last year, to a record $US9 billion.

It took Australia to seventh in the global ranking.

Investment in large-scale projects rose 222 per cent as generators scrambled to meet the Federal Government's large-scale renewable energy target (RET) of 33,000 gigawatt-hours of generation by 2020.

Last year was a record for clean energy investment in Australia, almost 50 per cent up on the previous record. ( Supplied: Bloomberg New Energy Finance )

Industry rises to meet challenge of ambitious targets

BNEF's Australian head Kobad Bhavnagri told RN Breakfast the record rise in investment in Australia shows the industry is willing to step up to a challenge.

The RET aims for about 23.5 per cent of Australia's electricity generation to come from renewable sources by 2020.

Sorry, this audio has expired How will the National Energy Guarantee impact investment in renewables?

"The renewable energy target has actually become quite an ambitious target over the next few years because we had this big pause of investment in the Abbott years, when policy was extremely uncertain," Mr Bhavnagri said.

"The industry had to race to mobilise and catch up. That's why we had to invest a huge amount last year and the industry's shown that it's perfectly capable of doing that."

However, Mr Bhavnagri is concerned the new National Energy Guarantee (NEG) policy is not ambitious enough to spur further investment.

"After 2020 when the current renewable energy target is met, investment under federal policies would likely fall off a cliff, because the national energy guarantee, as currently floated by the Federal Government, would require very little effort to achieve."

The NEG sets a target of reducing emissions to 26-28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

"A deeper emissions reduction target, or more action by state governments, will be required to sustain investment around the historic average," said Mr Bhavnagri.