Chinese wind power company seems to understand American political capitalism
by Michael Giberson American University’s Investigative Journalism Workshop has published reports detailing the extensive political connections in the United States developed by Chinese wind power company A-Power Energy (APWR) in its effort to build a 600-MW wind farm in West Texas. A-Power (APWR) and their Chinese and American partners were seeking $450 million in section 1603 grants and U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantees to help fund the project. New York senator Charles Schumer objected to the idea that stimulus funds would flow to Chinese workers and sought to block the project’s access to the funds. A-Power chose to fight...
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...
Maxwell’s Misreported Revenue: More to Come
Tom Konrad CFA On March 7th, Maxwell Technologies (NASD:MXWL) announced problems with revenue timing. Unlike Lime Energy (NASD:LIME), which I discussed in the previous part of this series, there was no hint of any fictitious revenue. The disclosure was very specific that “The errors relate to the timing of recognition of revenue from sales to certain distributors.” The announcement went on to discuss “arrangements … regarding the payment terms for sales” at these distributors. As a result of the discovery, “certain employees were terminated and our Sr. Vice President of Sales and Marketing resigned.” Maxwell is reviewing deficiencies in...
Alaskan Electric Utility Signs $1.1 Million Contract with Northern Power for Three Additional Wind...
Distributed Energy Systems Corp (DESC) has been awarded a contract for $1.14 million to install, commission and service three additional NorthWind 100 wind turbines for the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC) in the rural village of Chevak, Alaska. The contract continues AVEC's commitment to the development of its rural wind program in Alaska, bringing the total number of turbines AVEC has purchased from Northern Power to 13. The three new turbines, combined with an additional NorthWind 100 purchased by AVEC in October 2005, are expected to be installed in Chevak by the autumn of 2006. Together, the four...
Amazing Pictures of Offshore Wind Farms
One of the stories recently featured on one of my favorite sites, Reddit, was a link to some amazing pictures of offshore wind farms. Seeing these pictures of wind turbines really made clear to me the reality of offshore wind power, and the size and scope required to harness the power of wind over the ocean. Summarizing some points from the article: average wind speeds are greater over the ocean than they are over land the world's largest offshore wind farm is Horn’s Reef project located 14 kilometers (or about 9 miles) off the coast of Denmark...
Warm Wind For Vestas
by Debra Fiakas, CFA
A stream of impressive news has been delivered by wind turbine producer Vesta Wind Systems AS (Copenhagen: VWS.CO, US OTC: VWSYF, US ADR: VWDRY) over the last few weeks. Over the last two months the company has received orders for wind power turbines totaling 3,781 megawatts. Customers in the U.S. appear to be quite shy, withholding their names and the final destination of the power projects. Nonetheless, the more transparent European, Chinese and Brazilian customers provide a good view on how well regarded Vestas has become.
Business has been so good Vestas is opening a new nacelle and hub assembly factory in...
Universal Communication Systems, Inc. Subsidiary AirWater Corporation Announces the Development of an Exclusive New...
Universal Communication Systems Inc (UCSY) announced that the company has developed a new, exclusive energy application utilizing "wind power" technology for energy co-generation for use with AirWater machines.
Our Undiversified Wind Portfolio
Wind advocates like to say "The wind's always blowing somewhere" to counter concerns about the variability of wind power. This is true, and it means that wind can always be relied on to produce some power, but that does not mean that wind can always meet demand. In the United States' Great Plains wind belt, wind is typically anticorrelated with demand, meaning that, unless we can shift demand to times when the wind is strong, either through time of use rates or demand planning, overall energy production from wind will not be able to exceed 25-35% of overall demand...
FPL Group Scores Highest in U.S., Second Globally in Report on Clean, Efficient Energy
FPL Group Inc (FPL) scored the highest ranking in the U.S. and second globally in a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report that analyzed 72 of the world's leading power companies reviewing current use of available technologies to reduce C02 emissions, as well as clear commitments made for future improvements. The new report said FPL is a bright spot in the U.S. rankings. The WWF says FPL Group scored high due to leadership in developing wind energy and a commitment to dramatically improving power plant efficiency.
Offshore Wind Investment Opportunities
By Harris Roen A significant alternative energy investment theme with potential for growth over the next few years is offshore wind. This article looks at the promise of marine based wind, potential pitfalls, and names three investments that could benefit from large-scale offshore wind development that is likely coming. The Potential of Offshore Wind In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Interior jointly published a national offshore wind strategy. According to the report, in areas with less than 100 feet of water the generating potential of offshore wind equals...
China Finances Ming Yang Wind in India
Doug Young Rice farmer in India with wind turbines. Photo courtesy of Vestas Wind Systems (VWDRY) With its new energy sector tottering on the brink of collapse, China no longer seems to care if foreign government accuse it of unfairly supporting its sector with low cost loans and other state subsidies. That at least appears to be the message from a new plan by Ming Yang Wind Power (NYSE: MY), which has just announced a massive new tie-up with policy lender China Development Bank to provide financing...
Rare Earth Element Shortages Threaten Global Wind Power Development
by Kidela Capital Group In spite of the recent global economic slowdown, the growth of new wind energy developments has so far continued unabated. Wind turbine technology has evolved considerably in the last decade, and new wind farms are steadily popping up across the globe. To meet rising demand for renewable, clean sources of energy, the push for more efficient wind energy technologies has moved from a proverbial light breeze just a few years ago, to a steady gale today. The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) recently predicted that the world’s wind power capacity will increase by...
Broadwind: Major Order, But Still Looking For The Right Size
by Debra Fiakas CFA Last month wind tower manufacturer Broadwind Energy (BWEN: Nasdaq) announced a major new tower order from a major U.S. wind turbine manufacturer. The customer was not named, but the likely suspects are not hard to round up. General Electric (GE: NYSE) is the largest U.S.-based wind turbine producer with about 9.1% of the total world market according to BTM Navigant, an industry research firm. While substantially smaller in size, Northern Power Systems, PacWind and Xzeres are also important competitors in the wind energy industry. Clearly General Electric as a customer has the greatest financial...
Saviors and Saboteurs in Alternative Energy
John Petersen Last week Societe Generale published a thematic research report titled "A new world order, when demand overtakes supply" which examines the macro-economic and demographic trends that will transform the global economy over the next 20 years. It mirrored the theme of Jeremy Grantham's April 2011 quarterly letter titled "Time to Wake Up: Days of Abundant Resources and Falling Prices Are Over Forever" and did a great job of summarizing an issue I touched on in "How PHEVs and EVs Will Sabotage America's Drive For Energy Independence." In the words of Societe Generale: "So, while...
A push for renewable energy in Colorado
Colorado is the first state in the nation to place renewable energy on its ballots, thanks in part to grassroots support from Summit County. On Nov. 2, Colorado voters will decide whether to require the state's seven largest utilities to generate 10 percent of their electricity from environmentally-friendly sources like wind power by 2015.
Finavera Takes $28M for Two (Not $40M for Four)
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...
