Grid-based Energy Storage: Widely Misunderstood Challenges and Opportunities
John Petersen The most widely misunderstood subject in the field of energy storage is the potential for grid-based applications. They fire the imagination because the grid is so pervasive and the need is so great. They also present immense challenges to storage technology developers because the fundamental economic value per unit of grid-based energy storage is very low. While the subject of grid-based storage provides rich fodder for media reports and political posturing, the reality bears little relation to the perception. On March 9th, Lux Research published a sorely needed reality check in a new report titled "Grid...
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...
List of Smart Grid Stocks
Smart grid stocks are publicly traded companies that use or enable information technology to operate the electric grid more efficiently. They are also included in the list of electric grid stocks.
This list was last updated on 3/21/2022.
Advanced Energy Industries (AEIS)
AMSC (AMSC)
Arrow Electronics (ARW)
Digi International (DGII)
Echelon Corporation (ELON)
EnSync, Inc. (ESNC)
ESCO Technologies, Inc. (ESE)
Fluence Energy, Inc. (FLNC)
Itron (ITRI)
Kontrol Energy (KNR.CN, KNRLF)
Landis+Gyr Group AG (LAND.SW)
Schneider Electric (SU.PA, SBGSF, SBGSY)
SMA Solar Technology (S92.DE)
SolarEdge (SEDG)
Superconducting Technologies, Inc. (SCON)
Wallbox N.V. (WBX)
If you know of any smart grid stock that is not listed here and should be, please let us know by leaving a comment. Also...
MasTec (MTZ): Connectivity to the Smart Grid
By Harris Roen An important part of the smart grid will be devices that connect the user to the grid, or “reading points”. These reading points go way beyond the current meter reading system that just monitor the amount of energy used. The long held belief that meter reading was the only way to monitor household and business’s consumption is quickly being replaced with alternate ideas. MasTec (MTZ) is a contracting firm with $2.1 billion in annual sales focused on utility and communications infrastructure. It specializes in communications, high-speed Internet and electric distribution, as well as...
2010: The Year of the Strong Grid?
Part I: With Smart Grid Brains and Transmission Brawn... Tom Konrad, CFA A robust national grid will be essential to achieving high penetration for renewable electricity at reasonable cost, and the companies that can help build it are an essential part of a clean energy portfolio. Many renewable energy advocates, especially those enchanted by the gigantic potential for solar, think that we can get by with local renewable energy. While it's a pretty vision, the timing of wind and solar (the only forms of renewable energy that have the potential to produce 100% of our electricity) mean that this...
Powering Advanced Energy
by Debra Fiakas CFA Solar power producers have many challenges. One is the direct current to alternating current dilemma. Solar panels create power that flows one way in a direct current (DC). We use electricity in our homes and businesses in alternating current (AC) that flows both directions, forward and backward. So solar cell producers must use solar inverters that convert the electricity from the direct current in the solar panel into alternating current. This is where Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (AEIS: Nasdaq) comes in. AEIS makes power inverters for the solar power industry. The...
Solar PV Inverter Market Shakeout Continues With ABB and Power-One Deal
James Montgomery A pair of analyst reports issued last week came to roughly the same conclusion about the market for solar PV inverters: It's getting crowded and complicated, with top incumbents facing challenges in maintaining near-term growth in an increasingly fragmented market. Those PV inverter stalwarts will need to pursue more restructuring and mergers & acquisitions to stay atop the shifting and broadening customer base, addressing everything from tough-to-crack markets (e.g. China, Japan) and embracing newer technologies such as module-level power conversion, i.e. microinverters, say IMS Research and GTM Research. This consolidation has already started to play...
Is There Any Value In Stella Jones?
Value Investing A few months ago, I discussed my encounter with Warren Buffett, and promised that I would eventually analyze a stock using the value investing (VI) approach. While I can`t say that I qualify as a hardcore value investor, there are many things about the VI approach that have influenced my thinking. For instance, I tend to stay away from very high PE stocks and momentum plays. While I take positions in firms with no earnings, they are generally relatively "unknown" or are past star stocks that investors have moved on from. I like the idea...
Tribulations of a Meter Reader
by Debra Fiakas CFA Last week Badger Meter (BMI: NYSE) joined a building fraternity: companies reporting strong year-over-year sales growth, but delivering weaker than expected earnings. However, the Badger Meter actually increased earnings by a greater magnitude than it grew sales. The Company reported $83.5 million in net sales, representing 16.3% growth over the same quarter last year. Net income grew by 59.3% year-over-year to $4.6 million or $0.32 per share. As impressive as these results appear to be, the consensus had been for earnings per share of $0.41. The stock declined sharply as investor registered their displeasure...
Two Stocks For Grid Storage – ZBB Energy and Axion Power
John Petersen On March 4, 2011 the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory published a comprehensive review of "Electrochemical Energy Storage Technologies for Green Grid" that is a must-read for serious investors who want to understand the technical and economic intricacies of the energy storage sector. It explains why storage is a key enabling technology for wind and solar power, the smart grid, efficient transportation and a legion of high-technology manufacturing and service enterprises that can't survive without reliable power. It also explains why energy storage is an investment mega-trend that will endure for decades. While I normally try to...
Smart Grid Stocks For The Obama Stimulus Package
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how a new Obama administration would renew with Keynesianism (i.e. large-scale counter-cyclical infrastructure spending) but with a green twist to: (a) get the US economy out of its funk and (b) propel America into the 21st Century by providing a massive push for its green industries. I discussed certain rail stocks and electric grid stocks that could benefit as a result. By-and-large, I've been right on both counts about the President-elect's strategy (i.e. Keynesian and green), but I did forget to mention an important part of the plan's focus:...
Hammond Power Solutions: A Cheap Power Regulation Play?
We have discussed on several occasions the investment opportunities related to power regulation and renewable energy. I have also recently written about the value approach to investing. I came across a stock today that I believed fell into both categories: power regulation (transformers) and value. The stock is Hammond Power Solutions (HPS-A.TO or HMDPF.PK), a firm that makes transformers for a number of applications, including wind turbines. While revenue and earnings have been ramping up quite nicely over the past four years, the stock price has been trending mostly laterally (albeit in a volatile manner) over the...
List of Electric Grid Stocks
Electric grid stocks are publicly traded companies whose business involves electric infrastructure, including transmission, distribution, pricing, conversion, and regulation. Includes the list of smart grid stocks.
This article was last updated on 8/12/21.
ABB Ltd (ABB)
Advanced Energy Industries (AEIS)
AMSC (AMSC)
Avangrid, Inc. (AGR)
AZZ Incorporated (AZZ)
China Ruifeng Renewable Energy Holdings Ltd (0527.HK)
Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL (ELP)
Custom Truck One Source, Inc. (CTOS)
Digi International (DGII)
Echelon Corporation (ELON)
EMCORE Group, Inc (EME)
ESCO Technologies, Inc. (ESE)
Fortis, Inc. (FTS, FTS.TO)
General Electric (GE)
Hammond Power Solutions Inc. (HPS-A.TO, HMDPF)
Hubbell, Inc. (HUB-B, HUB-A)
Itron (ITRI)
Landis+Gyr Group AG (LAND.SW)
MasTec Inc. (MTZ)
MYR Group Inc. (MYRG)
National Grid PLC (NGG)
Prysmian S.P.A (PRI.MI, PRYMF)
Quanta Services Inc...
2010: The Year of the Strong Grid? Part IV: General Cable
Tom Konrad, CFA General Cable (BGC) is a strong grid stock that's suddenly looking a lot cheaper. Time to buy? General Cable is not only one of my Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2010, it was also holding it's own in my list of "strong grid" (that is, electricity transmission) stocks that have strong financials. About 59% of the company's revenues come from what I would consider "strong grid" markets: their "electrical utility" and "electrical transmission" segments. I published the most recent version of that list on February 11. In both these articles I cautioned that I...
Advanced Energy: Bargain Green Stock Turns Around
by Debra Fiakas CFA Everybody likes a bargain. Investors really like a good cheap buy. A review of our four alternative energy industries revealed three stocks trading below industry average multiples of forecasted earnings. This is the final article in the series, the first looked at Ormat (ORA:NYSE), and the second looked at Kadant (KAI:NYSE). The first week in November 2014, could have been a turning point for trading in shares of Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (AEIS: Nasdaq). The company reported flat sales in the quarter ending September 2014, compared to the same quarter last...
Bargain Priced Alternative Energy Stocks
A review of Crystal Equity Research’s novel alternative energy indices found a number of companies that have delivered exceptional price appreciation over the last year. Several were reviewed in the recent post “Alternative Returns” on May 8th. Expectations for growth appeared to be driving the price movement, so the last post “Quest for Growth” featured four companies from the indices for which analysts have posted high growth predictions. Not unexpectedly some investors have already bid higher the stocks of those promising companies.
In this post we go back to the lists to find the companies with both high growth predictions and low price-earnings...
