The market for clean energy grew to US$77 billion in 2007, and it’s expected to triple again over the next 10 years, according to according to a new report from research firm Clean Edge.

Revenues in four benchmark sectors — biofuels, wind power, solar photovoltaics, and fuel cells –were up 40% from US$55 billion in 2006 to US$77.3 billion in 2007, it reported. The four sectors are projected to more than triple over the next decade, growing to US$254.5 billion by 2017.

It found that the global production and wholesale pricing of biofuels reached US$25.4 billion in 2007 and is projected to hit US$81.1 billion by 2017. Wind power is expected to expand from US$30.1 billion in 2007 to US$83.4 billion in 2017. And, solar photovoltaics, which totaled US$20.3 billion last year, are predicted to more than triple to US$74 billion by 2017.

New global investments in energy technologies — including venture capital, project finance, public markets, and research and development — have expanded by 60% from US$92.6 billion in 2006 to US$148.4 billion in 2007, according to research firm New Energy Finance. In the U.S., venture capitalists invested US$2.7 billion in the clean-energy sector, representing almost 10% of total VC activity, it noted.

The report also outlines five trends poised to make an impact on the markets this year: start-ups building electric vehicles; new sustainable cities; foreign firms powering the U.S. wind market; geothermal energy; and cleaner oceangoing ships.

“Clean energy has moved from the margins to the mainstream and the proof is in these numbers,” said Clean Edge co-founder and principal Ron Pernick. “Amid last year’s plummeting housing prices, rising foreclosure rates, and record high oil prices, clean energy continued to provide a bright spot in an otherwise sluggish economy.”