New investment in renewable energy dropped to the lowest in two years in the first quarter, weighed down by low natural gas prices in the U.S. and subsidy cuts in Europe, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.

Money plowed into the industry through asset finance, share sales, venture capital and private equity fell to $31.1 billion in the first three months of the year from a record $47.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, the London-based researcher said today in a statement.

“The first quarter saw a bit of a hangover from the hectic investment activity seen in the final months of last year as financiers rushed to close deals to meet their internal targets or to catch feed‐in tariffs due to expire in countries such as Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic,” New Energy Finance Chief Executive Officer Michael Liebreich said.

The first quarter’s investment in wind farms, solar parks and other forms of renewable power is the lowest amount since the $20.5 billion spent in the first quarter of 2009, according to New Energy Finance.