When the Wind Blows
In the past, readers have challenged my assertion that wind in the Great Plains blows mostly in the winter. In fact, I was once taken to task for it by a Colorado State Representative (a know-nothing Republican from suburbia) when I was testifying as to the advantages of Solar in Colorado in terms of timing. In the past, I've only had secondary references to "NREL data," and ERCOT's Analysis of Transmission Alternatives for Competitive Renewable Energy Zones in Texas (pdf, 8MB), where wind in the Texas panhandle also conforms to this pattern. However, I was just browsing NREL's Wind...
Another Look at the Algonquin Power Income Fund
Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA The Algonquin Power Income Fund (AGQNF.PK) has been one of my star performers in an excellent year. Is it still a good investment at these prices? Since I recommended the Algonquin Power Income Fund (AGQNF.PK/APF-UN.TO) in January as a renewable energy income stock for 2009, the company is up 69%, in addition to the C$0.02 monthly dividend, worth approximately another 8% through August on the US$1.82 purchase price, making it the second-best performing of my ten picks (after Cree, Inc (CREE).) However, since the major basis for my recommendation at the time was the...
Rapidly Growing Alternative Energy Companies
The last post highlighted several companies in the alternative energy, conservation and environment technology fields that have delivered exceptional price performance over the last year. Prospects for growth in sales or earnings appeared to be key drivers of the price movement. It makes sense to seek indicators of growth as cues for those companies that may become tomorrow’s price movers.
Crystal Equity Research’s novel alternative energy indices were a good place to go on a ‘quest for growth.’
Beach Boys Index - Biodiesel
The two analysts who publish estimates for Renewable Energy Group (REGI: Nasdaq)apparently expect a surge in growth in the current year followed by a leveling...
The Alternative Energy Fallacy
John Petersen In 2009, the world produced some 13.2 billion metric tons of hydrocarbons, or about 4,200 pounds for every man, woman and child on the planet. Burning those hydrocarbons poured roughly 31.3 billion metric tons of CO2 into our atmosphere. The basic premise of alternative energy is that widespread deployments of wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles will slash hydrocarbon consumption, reduce CO2 emissions and give us a cleaner, greener and healthier planet. That premise, however, is fatally flawed because our planet cannot produce enough non-ferrous industrial metals to make a meaningful difference and the prices...
Alternative Energy Companies Posting Large Returns
Alternative energy companies delivered compelling returns for investors. A look at Crystal Equity Research’s ‘indices’ of renewable energy, conservation and environmentally-friendly technology companies found some exceptional price moves. We review five companies here that have experienced top price moves from 52-week lows.
Codexis, Inc. (CDXS: Nasdaq) has gained 257% from its 52-week low. The company won a place in our Beach Boys group through development of proteins for a mix of applications from biocatalysts for industrial enzymes, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. While the company has started generating revenue from its technology, it has yet to post a profit. Codexis delivered a smaller than expected loss in the...
New Wind ETF FAN Cools Off Sunburned Portfolios
Update:You can find a comparison of FAN with PWND. a more recent wind ETF here. Since I last covered clean energy mutual funds and ETFs, the sector has seen the launch of two solar ETFs (KWT the Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF from VanEck, and TAN, the Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy ETF.) Continuing in the tradition of cute ticker symbols, First Trust's new global wind energy ETF is FAN. I recommend that investors stay away from the (very expensive) green energy mutual funds, and invest either in one of the ETFs, or if they have...
Epic Changes Are Coming in the Electric Power, Transportation and Energy Storage Sectors
John Petersen Epic is the only word I can use to describe an evolving tragedy that killed tens of thousands of people, inflicted hundreds of billions in property damage, destroyed 3.5% of Japan's base-load power generating capacity in a heartbeat and will cause recurring aftershocks in the global electric power, transportation and energy storage sectors for decades. While I'd love to believe the worst is behind us, I fear the times of trouble have just begun. Since it's clear that Japan will have to turn inward and serve the urgent needs of its own population first, the...
Newsweek Special Report
"Experts generally agree that our current reliance on fossil fuels is unsustainable. Already oil is near $50 per barrel, and the great millions of Chinese and Indians destined to take to the road in the next decades have not yet gotten behind the wheel." This week Newsweek has written several special reports about alternative energy in all its forms. All of these reports can be found at the following link.
Companies Helping New York Take the Lead in Offshore Wind
by Debra Fiakas
The Lieutenant Governor of New York, Linda Hochul, has predicted that the state will be a world leader in off-shore wind power - a bold assertion for a state that still derives three-quarters of its electric power from fossil fuels. Natural gas has become the most important fossil fuel source. Yet in 2016, for the first time, over one million megawatt hours of electricity were sources from solar power and 24% of electricity is generated by renewable sources. This is remarkable given that just a few years ago even that accomplishment was given very low odds. There...
Is AMSC Ready to Get Back to the Future?
Last week a jury found in favor of the United States government in a suit brought in 2013 by the Obama Administration against the Chinese wind turbine producer, Sinovel Wind Group (601558: Shanghai). Sinovel was found guilty of stealing technology from American Superconductor (AMSC: Nasdaq) that had supplied Sinovel with converter hardware and software solutions. Sinovel may have to pay hefty fines when the final sentencing step is completed in June 2018.
American Superconductor (now called AMSC) had already brought a private suit against Sinovel in China two years before the Justice Department filed its case. The China court dismissed the case for lack of...
Must Renewable Energy Be Diversified?
Dana Blankenhorn Most renewable energy companies specialize. Solar companies do solar. Wind companies do wind. Geothermal companies do geothermal. Biomass companies do biomass. But a small Canadian merger challenges that assumption. Magma Energy (MGMXF.PK), a geothermal company, said it will spend about $100 million in stock to buy Plutonic Power (PUOPF.PK), which has wind and hydropower projects, and ambitions to get into solar. The combined companies will go by the name Alterra Power. Both companies are based in Vancouver. Size really does matter, crowed Magma CEO Ross Beatty on a conference call announcing...
Book Review: Investment Opportunities for a Low Carbon World (Wind + Solar)
Charles Morand Tom and I recently received complimentary copies of a new book called "Investment Opportunities for a Low Carbon World", edited FTSE Group's Director of Responsible Investment Will Oulton*. The book is a compendium of articles by 31 different authors broken down into three main categories: (1) environmental and low-carbon technologies; (2) investment approaches, products and markets; and (3) regulation, incentives, investor and company case studies. While Tom will provide a comprehensive review of the book once he's finished reading it in its entirety, I will instead review a few selected chapters over...
Another Reality Check for Wind Power Investors
John Petersen Last Wednesday I stirred up a hornets nest with an article titled "A Reality Check for Wind Power Investors" that included two graphs from the Bonneville Power Administration, or BPA, which manages a four state, 300,000 square mile service region that's home to over 40% of the installed hydro capacity and roughly 12% of the installed wind capacity in the US. The first graph tracks the BPA's regional load and power production from hydro, thermal and wind facilities over the last seven days and shows why the region is one of the largest power exporters...
Rarer Rare Earths Are Not Going To Sink The Wind Power Sector
Charles Morand Once the electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle frenzy fizzles out, as cleantech frenzies typically do when reality comes knocking (i.e. corn ethanol and solar PV), the next hot thing to hit the world of alternative energy investing could very well be rare earths, or the lack thereof. Rare earth metals are used in a number of technologies, most importantly for alt energy investors in NiMH HEV batteries and in permanent magnets for wind turbine generators and electric motors (made with the element neodymium). This article, as its name indicates, will focus on the wind sector. ...
Pattern Energy Investors Enjoy The Breeze
by Debra Fiakas CFA This week Pattern Energy Group’s (PEGI: Nasdaq), the independent wind power generator, is scheduled to report sales and earnings for the quarter ending September 2015. The company has cultivated a strong following among analysts for a company its size. Nine estimate contributions have gone into a consensus estimate of $87.2 million in sales for the quarter, resulting in a net loss of a penny per share. If achieved the sales hurdle would represent 22% growth over the same quarter last year. A penny loss may not seem impressive, but it is substantially better than...
Petersen’s Wind Power Paradigm Paralysis
Tom Konrad CFA I published my rebuttal to John Petersen's recent article "Gone With The Wind – Debunking Geographic Diversity" on November 1st last year. It was titled Alternative Energy: The Paradigm is the Problem. That article had two parts. The first part focused on electric vehicles, and argued that the problem with the electric car was not electric propulsion, but the car paradigm. I concluded that electric propulsion makes considerably more sense for electric bikes, trains, and buses. John clearly understood that section, because he published an article just last week "Lux Research Confirms that...
