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Philipe de Weck, manager of Pictet's £485m Clean Energy fund, said while traditional energy stocks had seen their p/es rise on the back of inflation, renewable energy companies were seeing a downwards trend as they became more efficient and developed economies of scale.

He said: "Since we launched the fund about a year ago, the p/e ratio of the portfolio has gone down. While the fund is up about 20 per cent since launch, the forward p/e ratio is now about 17 times - it was about 20 times when we went live.

"Earnings estimates have been upgraded constantly," he added. "The industry is growing earnings at about 30 per cent – that is clearly leading to the forward p/e ratio going down."

While stocks have been buoyed by the knock-on effect of the rising oil price, De Weck claimed renewable energy companies correlated less than traditional energy firms, and would therefore suffer less if there was a correction in the commodity.

"The fact that oil prices have doubled is helpful, because a lot of other energy is priced on oil as it is used for transportation – whereas solar and wind are just used for electricity – but natural gas and coal stocks have gone up almost in tandem," explained the manager.

"But renewable stocks haven't kept up with price of oil, so if it comes back down, they won't suffer," he added. "Having said that, if the price of oil stays high, these stocks will start to incorporate that into their price."

For more information, see next week's Investment Adviser.