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...
Google’s Renewed Cleantech Investment Binge
James Montgomery Google Doodle for Earth Day 2006 This week the Internet giant Google revealed that in December it invested $75 million in Pattern Energy's (NASD:PEGI) 182-MW Panhandle 2 wind farm in Carson County, Texas, northeast of Amarillo, expected to be operational by the end of this year. Pattern will hold an 80 percent stake in the project, whose owners also include Google and two institutional tax equity investors, with Morgan Stanley providing construction and equity bridge loans and a letter of credit. Google certainly has displayed a healthy...
Buying Innergex – Texas Was Bad, But Not That Bad
By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
Last week, I published this call to buy Innergex (INGXF, INE.TO) because investors had been overreacting to the losses from the February cold snap in Texas. The stock is up since then, but still seems a decent value.
Canadian Yieldco Innergex Renewable Energy (INGXF, INE.TO) took a big financial hit from the power disruptions in Texas in March.
It's complex, but their financial hedges on power prices for three of its wind farms ended up creating enormous liabilities - more, in fact, than two of their wind farms are worth. Two of their facilities also had benefits...
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...
Don’t Forget About Wind Power!
Without a doubt, ethanol and solar are the 2 alt energy categories that have attracted the most investor attention in North America in the past few years, and that is because they are the 2 categories that feature the most US-listed stocks. However, despite its comparatively lower profile as an asset class, investors should not forget about wind power! On January 18th, Emerging Energy Research published a short study on the growth of wind power in China. For 2006, China installed 1,040 MW of new wind capacity, making it the 5th country in the world in terms...
Finavera Wind Energy: Slow Progress
Tom Konrad CFA Without a press release since June, and the stock price in the doldrums, investors have been looking for updates on Finavera Wind Energy (TSXV:FVR, OTC:FNVRF. Disclosure: I own this stock.) In fact, there has been an update: Finavera’s second quarter interim report, filed on August 28th on SEDAR, but without a press release or news articles, many investors seem to have missed it. Despite the lack of updates, progress continues behind the scenes, although Jason Bak, Finavera’s CEO is yet not able to say much about the ongoing initiatives. On Friday, he told...
On the Edge of the Subsidy Cliff: Will the US PTC Expire?
Steve Leone Sen. Mark Udall Colorado Senator Mark Udall is persistent by nature. He's a mountain climber who has scaled some of the world's most daunting peaks, from Mount McKinley in Alaska to Mount Aconcagua in the Andes. That dogged pursuit has served him well in his recent career spent navigating the perilous cliffs of Washington's Capitol Hill. And now he has at least one more mountain to climb the seemingly intractable extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC), the wind industry's defining subsidy and the...
Offshore Wind Blows Into The US: Seven Stocks To Catch The Breeze
Tom Konrad CFA The Growth of Offshore Wind Offshore wind has finally gotten a toe hold in the United States. The United States' first offshore wind farm, the 30 megawatt (MW) Block Island Wind Farm, is under construction. A new project, the South Fork Wind Farm will be three times the size of Block Island (90 MW), is set to be approved by the Long Island Power Authority. This project will be located 30 miles East of Montauk, NY and Southeast of Block Island in a wind energy area designated by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy...
Making the Most Energy from the Wind
Better technology is allowing some wind farm operators to get more out of their existing wind farms by completely repowering the farm - replacing old technology with new - or by conducting performance upgrades on their turbines. Jennifer Runyon There is an old piece of wisdom that states: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But some wind farm operators, especially in Germany and North America, are finding that advice difficult to heed. That's because technology improvements in turbines coupled with software analytics are revealing that signing up for a performance upgrade could allow them...
Eneti: The New Offshore Wind Installation Leader
By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
With its purchase of Seajacks, Eneti (NYSE:NETI) has become the world’s largest owner of offshore wind installation vessels. The two articles were shared with my followers on Patreon as the news came out.
Valuing the Eneti/Seajacks Combination (First published August 5th)
Eneti (NETI) just announced it is buying offshore wind turbine installation firm Seajacks. The purchase will be with a combination of shares, cash, and assumed debt: 8.13 million shares, $299 million of assumed net debt, $74 million of newly-issued redeemable notes, and $12 million of cash. Current Eneti shareholders will own 58% of the combined firm.
After...
America Forecasted To Be Hit By Strong Winds
A recent study by Emerging Energy Research confirmed what we have been saying about wind power for some time - namely that growth prospects look very strong for the North American market. The study, entitled "US Wind Power Markets and Strategies, 2007-2015", is not available free of charge but you can access a summary here (PDF document). The US: The World's Top Dog Here are some of the key takeaways from the summary: a) The US wind power market is expected to grow from 11,000 MW in 2006 to around 49,000 MW by 2015...
US wind energy to add 2,500 MW in 2005-industry
FPL Group Inc (FPL) The U.S. wind energy industry will add as much as 2,500 megawatts of new production capacity in 2005, more than previously expected, the American Wind Energy Association said on Tuesday. A megawatt of wind capacity can provide roughly the amount of electricity needed by 250 to 300 households, so the new forecast translates into the equivalent of power for some 700,000 homes, the group said.
Shares of Hydrogenics Purchased
Hydrogenics Corp (HYGS) is a developer of fuel cell technology and hydrogen generation. They are also working with wind farm technology in the generation of hydrogen. Back in January of this year they successfully completed the purchase of Stuart Energy which compliments their product portfolio. Shares of the stock have been under pressure for the last couple of months due to missed expectations on Q1 revenue results. There is also some major concern about an increase in product backlog. In August, HYGS issued their most recent quarterly earnings and are attempting to reassure the...
Scottish Power Plc Receives Approval for Glasgow Windfarm
Scottish Power plc (SPI) was granted final planning approval to construct Europe's largest on-shore windfarm, the 322MW Whitelee project south of Glasgow. The 140 turbine project would provide enough green energy to power 200,000 homes. Scottish Power is currently the largest provider of wind generated electricity in the United Kingdom.
My Portfolio’s Latest Casualty And Addition
The Casualty Last Monday, I discussed how I had recently reviewed Railpower Tech with a view to potentially adding to my position on grounds that: (a) the company had a fair amount of cash in the bank, which reduced the need to go to capital markets for financing for a while; and (b) that it was getting badly battered by general market conditions, potentially offering an attractive entry point. Although my portfolio has taken a beating in recent weeks, I remain ready to take small positions in stocks if I feel they are being unfairly bashed, including in...
Magnetek Reorganization Centers on Alternative Energy Products
Magnetek Inc. (MAG) announced a reorganization of the Company's operating structure to accelerate growth in alternative energy markets. "Alternative energy products currently account for less than 5% of our quarter-billion-dollar annual revenue," said Magnetek chief executive Andrew Galef. "But that revenue has the potential to increase exponentially over the next few years, based on double-digit growth rates in alternative energy markets and proprietary power conversion products that we are now introducing for solar and wind power markets."
