Wind

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...

American Superconductor Corp. (AMSC) announced it has received a follow-on order for its proprietary PowerModule(TM)-based wind turbine generator control systems for 150 wind turbines from Windtec Systemtechnik GmbH (Windtec), a supplier of large wind turbine components and system technology, based in Klagenfurt, Austria. The PowerModule-based control systems will be utilized in the electrical equipment of wind turbine generators each rated at 1.5 megawatts which Windtec plans to ship to China in calendar 2006. AMSC expects to ship the PowerModule PM1000 power converters, which manage and stabilize electricity produced by wind turbine generators, to Windtec by the end...

British Telecom has announced a three-year plan to get all of its energy needs from renewable sources - the biggest such project in the world. The electricity used, worth hundreds of millions of pounds, could power a city the size of Nottingham. Renewable sources of energy include wind, wave and solar power, rather than using fossil fuels like oil or coal.

By Tim Conneally The pool of public solar yieldcos keeps growing. Just before the Christmas holiday, Sol-Wind Renewable Power LP filed for a $100 million initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This will be the eighth Yieldco to debut since 2013, and the stock will trade on the NYSE under the symbol SLWD. But there's something different about this one. Sol-Wind is a yieldco that utilizes a Master Limited Partnership (MLP) structure, so it will be taxed differently from the other Yieldcos. Generally speaking, a Yieldco is similar to MLPs by nature, but the taxation...

BusinessWeek.com discusses John Kerry's plan to increase alternative energy usage for the country. John Kerry's blueprint for energy independence doesn't suffer from lack of ambition. In early August, he'll unveil an energy plan that he says can break America's addiction to foreign oil, revitalize the U.S. auto industry, help farmers and coal miners, fight global warming, and create jobs all for just $2 billion per year. "We can live in an America that is energy independent," Kerry promises.

by William Gregozeski, CFA China Ruifeng Renewable Energy Holdings Limited is a holding company with ownership interests in three energy-related businesses.  Its current focus is on wind farm operations, via its majority holdings in Hongsong, a long established wind farm, and Langcheng, a greenfield wind farm (after various purchases and sales of ownership interests it will own 85.36% of the two wind farms on a beneficial level and 68.17% on a direct equity level.  These wind farms have a current installed capacity of 398.4MW, and are expected to increase to 1,190.4MW by the end of 2017.  It...

FPL Group Inc (FPL) announced today that it has been recognized on the first, annual list of Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. FPL Group, Inc. is one of only 100 companies chosen from 2000 of the world's largest corporations whose sustainability performance falls within the top five percent of their business sector. The company is part of a select group of only 20 U.S.-based companies included in this special recognition. FPL Group was selected based on its ability to manage the triple bottom line - society, environment and economy.

Maxwell Technologies (MXWL) announced that Enercon GmbH has placed a 1.5 million-unit purchase order for ultracapacitors for wind turbine blade pitch systems. Enercon currently uses BOOSTCAP® ultracapacitors for backup energy storage and power delivery in wind turbines models ranging in output from 300 kW to 6 MW. Ulrich Neundlinger, Enercon's managing director of switching units, said that the company is expanding its use of ultracapacitors for blade pitch system backup power after initial deployments confirmed their significant advantages over traditional battery solutions.

Xantrex Technology Inc. (XTX.TO) received an order for wind converters valued at $12M from Clipper Windpower Technology Inc. of Carpinteria, CA for delivery in 2006. This order exceeds the framework agreement announced on September 15, 2005 for approximately $10 million over two years. These Xantrex converters will be used in Clipper's new 2.5 megawatt Liberty wind turbine. I spent sometime talking with the people at the Xantrex booth at the recent solar conference and they have a firm commitment to the Alternative energy marketplace. They have also started a concentrated effort to release new products into the...

By Jeff Siegel Hannon Armstrong (NYSE:HASI), one of my top picks for 2014, just made me very happy. Yesterday, the company announced its Q2 Core Earnings of $4.7 million or $0.22 per share. On a GAAP basis, the Company recorded net income of $2.9 million. Here are some other highlights. . . Raised approximately $70 million in April, 2014 in a follow-on offering. Increased the flexibility and expanded the capacity of its existing credit facility by $200 million. Completed more than $200 million worth of transactions, including the acquisition of a $107 million portfolio of land...

As I've discussed previously, things haven't been easy of late for alt energy stocks, especially those of the pure-play kind. A few days ago, I was asked which, if any, alt energy stocks I could recommend in this environment. My answer was: none. While people continue to go on television claiming that alt energy's problem has to do with falling oil prices, in my view the real risk at the moment has do with financing - financing for the companies producing the technologies and financing for their customers. The two business models are simultaneously under attack: for...

Bribing and Pressuring Fissile Regimes On July 25th, France offered to build a nuclear reactor for Libya to power a water desalinization plant.  Russia is delaying the delivery of  nuclear fuel for Iran's nearly completed Bushehr to help pressure them to comply with UN Security council demands for less secrecy.  South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, and the United States promised to provide 950 thousand tons of oil or equivalent aid to North Korea in return for permanently disabling all its nuclear facilities. I'm not going to argue about whether using energy aid is the best way to influence this...

Tom Konrad CFA Monday morning, Finavera Wind Energy (TSXV:FVR, OTC:FNVRF) announced that it had finalized its agreement with Pattern Energy Group  to sell two of its four Canadian wind energy projects for $28 million.  This should come as a relief to shareholders, who had been concerned when the original date by which they had expected to ratify the deal, March 31st came and went. Since the start of March, when shareholders would reasonably have expected to have heard an announcement of the meeting date and the circulation of proxy materials, Finavera’s stock had drifted down 15% (from C$0.20...

Distributed Energy Systems Corp (DESC) has been profiled on Forbes.com. Kenneth Reid, editor of Spear's Security Industry Analyst, recommends buying shares of Distributed Energy Systems. The Wallingford, Conn.-based company creates and delivers a variety of products for the alternative and decentralized energy markets.. . .The story of Distributed Energy and other alternative-energy players is a long-term one, say bulls like Reid. With the surge in oil prices this year, the story is resonating with investors. Distributed Energy shares are up 333% in the past year, trading around $8 after hitting a 52-week (intraday) high of $8.09 on Sept....

FPL Group Inc (FPL) places order from Siemens to build wind turbines for FPL. They expect to install the new turbines in 2006.

Scottish Power plc (SPI) is an electrical generation and distribution company primarily focused in the UK. They have two subsidiaries that are based in the US, PacificCorp and PPM Energy. They are currently in the process of trying to sell PacificCorp to Berkshire Hathaway. PPM Energy is a company with extensive wind energy development and generation. Scottish Power also has extensive wind farms in Scotland and Europe. They are also developing off-shore wind power of the Welsh coast. This stock has been moving strong recently and it looks like it is building a base at the $40...