Are Aspiration’s Deposits Really Fossil Fuel Free?
Fossil Fuel Free Claims
If you are reading this, you've probably also seen advertisements for Aspriation's “Fee-free and fossil fuel free” banking services. Like the advertisements the company's product page encourages visitors to “Earn high interest on what you save with an account that is fee-free and fossil fuel free.“
As a professional green money manager, I know that “fossil fuel free” is in the eye of the beholder. For many mutual funds, “fossil fuel free” simply means avoiding the 200 largest fossil fuel companies, but investing in the 201st largest fossil fuel company, even if its primary business is mining...
List of High Yield Alternative Energy Stocks
This is a list of renewable and alternative energy stocks with dividend or distribution yields above 4%. The list includes most Yieldcos (high distribution companies that own renewable energy operations), but is not limited to Yieldcos. Some Yieldcos may be excluded if their yield is below 4%.
Atlantica Yield plc (AY)
Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (AQN, AQN.TO)
Bluefield Solar Income Fund Ltd. (BSIF.L)
Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (BEP)
Clearway Energy, Inc. (CWEN,CWEN-A)
Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais (CIG)
Covanta Holding Corporation (CVA)
Crius Energy Trust (KWH-UN.TO, CRIUF)
Enviva Partners, LP (EVA)
Foresight Solar Fund plc (FSFL.L)
GATX Corporation Series A (GMTA)
Global X YieldCo ETF (YLCO)
Greencoat UK Wind PLC (UKW.L)
Green...
The Greenium: Growing Evidence of a Green Bond Premium
Highlights from the latest Q4 2017 Green Bond Report from the Climate Bonds Initiative: Two years of data observations examining green bond behavior in primary markets
Climate Bonds Initiative has released the fourth “Green Bond Pricing in the Primary Market” report analysing the performance of green bonds issued in the period October-December 2017. This is the last quarterly report; future publications will be produced semi-annually allowing a more longtitudinal analysis as the market expands.
The Q4 2017 report covers USD15.1bn or almost 40% of the face value of labelled green bonds issued in Q4. 15 EUR and 8 USD labelled green bonds are...
The Green Bond Trend
DTE Energy Company (DTE: NYSE) recently priced a ‘green bond’ issuance of $525 million to support renewable energy and energy efficiency. The thirty-year bonds provide a coupon payment at 4.05%. DTE is planning to buy solar arrays and wind turbines with its newly flush cash kitty. The capital raise is of significance less for its size and purpose and more for the fact that a U.S. electric utility company is tapping this unusual financing vehicle.
True enough, green bonds are nothing new. Created to fund projects with environmental or climatic benefits, the first green bonds were issued in May 2007 by the European Investment Bank (EIB). The...
Greening of Utility Dividends
Investors looking for income have long relied on the stocks of electric utilities. Naturally cash generative utility companies have a history of generous dividend payout policies. However, for those investors who have a concern about sustainability or climate change, even utilities with the highest dividend yields may not be appealing.
We looked at a selection of nine utility companies with mixed achievements in terms of the percentage of renewable energy sources found in their retail sales of electricity. The intensity of renewable energy in utility portfolios varies considerably across the industry. Many utilities are grappling with legacy coal and oil infrastructure. Others are not favored...
One Week, Three YieldCo Deals. Are More Buyouts on the Horizon?
by Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
It's been a busy several days in the YieldCo space.
On February 5, 8point3 Energy Partners (NASD:CAFD) announced an agreement to be acquired by an infrastructure investment fund managed by Capital Dynamics. While I was still writing an article on why the sale price was at a virtually unheard of discount relative to the stock market price, two more YieldCo deals were announced: NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) agreed to sell its sponsorship stake in NRG Yield (NYSE:NYLD and NYSE:NYLD/A) to Global Infrastructure Partners, and YieldCo TerraForm Power (NASD:TERP) made an offer to buy out Spanish YieldCo Saeta Yield (Madrid:SAY) at a 20 percent...
First Solar and SunPower Lobby Shareholders to Sell 8point3 YieldCo
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
Will shareholders accept the deal?
On Monday, 8point3 Energy Partners, the joint YieldCo from First Solar and SunPower, entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Capital Dynamics.
When public companies are sold, it's almost always at a premium to the market price. It's that price premium that persuades shareholders to sell. So why would 8point3 (NASD: CAFD) shareholders accept a deal that offers them only $12.35, or 15 to 20 percent below the roughly $15 price CAFD has been trading around for the past three months?
To answer this question, we need a little history.
Jan Schalkwijk, founder...
Hannon Armstrong Declines to Raise Dividend, Sets 3 Year Guidance
Investors did not like Hannon Armstrong's (NYSE:HASI) fourth quarter earnings announcement last night. While core earnings were a little weaker than expected, that is not what has the stock trading down 11% today. What shocked investors is the fact that the company did not raise the dividend this year for the first time since the REIT went public, and it gave 3 year guidance which likely disappointed many investors.
Last month, I wrote,
I expect that Hannon Armstrong will continue to be a well run and conservative business in 2018, and that management will raise the dividend at the lower end...
See You Later, Hannon Armstrong
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
Sustainable infrastructure financier Hannon Armstrong (NYSE:HASI) is not in my Ten Clean Energy Stocks model portfolio for the first year since its IPO in 2013. I still love the company and its business model, but I have become concerned about its short term prospects.
Dividend Disappointment?
In my last update on the 2017 portfolio, I wrote,
“Sustainable infrastructure and clean energy financier Hannon Armstrong reported earnings on November 1st. The headline numbers were lower than expected, but for a very good reason. The company has spent the last few months locking in low interest rates by refinancing its...
Buyer’s Guide To Community Solar in New York
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
An updated version of this article is available here.
After a painfully long wait, community solar (also called shared solar) is finally coming to New York state. After years of regulatory uncertainty, the state Public Services Commission (PSC) has put enough of the enabling regulations in place for a number of developers to move forward.
What is Community Solar?
A community solar installation is a large scale (typically 1 to 3 MW, or the size of about 150 to 800 residential solar installations) in which subscribers can sign up to lease or purchase a share of the production...
Second Largest Quarter For Green Bonds Ever
Third quarter reflects strong growth and new market entrants
Overview
The green bond market has kept its strong pace in Quarter 3 2017, reaching a total of USD27.7bn from July to September.
On September 28th, the total amount of green bonds issued in 2017 ytd (USD83.2bn) overtook last year’s total issuance of USD81.6bn.
We covered the big moment in our Blog Post here.
Lots of new issuers
The top sources of issuance were:
Mexico - USD4bn
China - USD3.9bn
France - USD3.3bn
U.S. - USD2.8bn
India - USD1.9bn
Mexico was a surprising addition to the number one spot, after issuing no green bonds in Q1 or Q2 this year.
Big...
Brookfield’s Yieldco Buying Spree
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
Last week, a Bloomberg reported on a rumor that Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) was in talks to buy Abengoa's (ABGOY) stake in its former YieldCo Atlantica Yield (ABY). Atlantica had been looking for a new sponsor for well over a year since parent Abengoa filed for bankruptcy.
Purchasing Yieldcos (companies that own clean energy infrastructure and use the cash flows to pay large dividends to shareholders) is not new to Brookfield. Not only has BAM long sponsored Brookfield Renewable Partners, LP (BEP), a limited partnership that has essentially been a Yieldco since before the term was...
Green Bonds Mid-Year Summary 2017
by the Climate Bonds Team
Climate Bonds looks at the last six months numbers, the trends and our tips for the rest of 2017
Green Bonds Mid-Year Summary 2017
Headline figures for the Half Year (H1)
2017 issuance to H1: USD55.8bn
Records broken: Quarter 2 (Q2) is the largest quarter of issuance on record at almost USD30bn
82 green bond deals issued in the quarter from 74 issuers
Over 50% of issuers were first time issuers
Green Bond transactions accounted for 3% of global bond market transactions in Q2 2017
Top 5 largest issuers of H1:
Republic of France (USD7.6bn),
EIB (USD2.8bn),
...
How Much Could Another Yieldco Pay For 8point3?
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
When SunPower (SPWR) and First Solar's (FSLR) YieldCo, 8point3 Energy Partners (CAFD), went public two years ago, I used the financial nerd joke in 8point3's ticker symbol as a launching point to explain what "cash available for distribution," or CAFD, means.
In that article, I cautioned against the risks of using a short-term cash flow measure for long-term investing decisions. That risk is becoming more and more real for investors in 8point3 because the YieldCo is using short-term, interest-only financing to fund its long-term investments.
All of 8point3's debt matures in 2020, and refinancing that debt will...
Climate Bonds 2016 Highlights
by the Climate Bonds Team
A record year with green bond issuance of USD 81bn, up 92% on 2015 figures
The Trends
A maturing of the green bonds market, diversification across issuers, products and use of proceeds are the main trends identified in our Green Bonds Highlights 2016 summary.
The Big Numbers
92% – growth on 2015 making 2016 the most prolific year to date
USD 11.8bn – November issuance, the largest month on record
24 – number of countries with green bond issuers
27% – proportion of Chinese issuers
241 – number of labelled green bonds issued (median size USD133.7m)
>90 – number of new issuers
>50 – number...
Four Clean Green Dividends
by Debra Fiakas CFA The recent pullback in stock prices in the U.S. equity market has opened the door to some interesting dividend yields. Investors with a taste for environmentally-friendly businesses have some particularly interesting alternatives that can pump up the purse as well as protect Mother Earth. AES Corporation (AES: NYSE) is a world-class power generator from mixed portfolio of conventional and renewable power sources. About 28% of its 29,352 megawatts of generation capacity is from renewable fuel sources, including hydro, biomass, solar and wind, and another 33% from plants using natural gas. The balance of...
