Sell Wind ETFs if Support is Violated
Steve Sollheiser Both Wind ETFs are showing interesting chart patterns. In the PowerShares Global Wind Energy Portfolio (PWND) chart we can see a Falling Wedge patern, that consists of two non-parallel trend lines that engulf price. The upwards trend line has been tested for 5 times, which is an indication of its strength. The support trend line was tested four times, which confirms its validity and the accuracy of the pattern. The Falling Wedge, contrary to intuition, is a Bullish pattern which predicts a breakout upwards and an uptrend in 68%...
Where’s Western Wind Energy’s Tax Grant?
Tom Konrad CFA On March 22, Western Wind Energy (TSX-V:WND, OTC:WNDEF) applied for a $90,556,707 tax-free 1603 grant from the US Treasury on behalf of the completed 120MW Windstar project. The press release stated that the grant is subject to approval by the Treasury and payable within sixty days. The Windstar Wind Farm. Photo credit: Western Wind Energy It’s now more than three months later, and no tax grant. The stock is down 24% since May 22, when the grant was expected, but management remains confident they will get...
Big Firms Positioned in Alternative Energy Field
TheStreet.com has a good write up about the new potential growth opportunities that are available in the Alternative Energy marketplace. "With oil recently passing the $50 mark and expected to stay high some investors feel freshly tempted by alternative energy stocks. They view fuel cells and sunshine and windmills as ultimate replacements for diminishing supplies of fossil fuels. Thus, they tend to look past the alternative fuel industry's current losses and focus on future possibilities instead." The following companies are mentioned in this article: Ballard Power (BLDP) FPL Group Inc (FPL) Fuelcell Energy...
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...
Drawing the Right Lessons from the Texas "Wind" Emergency
On February 26, 2008, a drop in wind generation by about 1400 MW over ten minutes, coupled with an increase in demand of 4412 MW due to colder weather, and lower-than scheduled production from other power suppliers, led ERCOT, the Texas grid operator to cut 1100 MW of power to interruptible customers for about 90 minutes. Misconceptions All these facts come from a Reuters article misleadingly titled "Loss of wind causes Texas power grid emergency." I was dismayed a few weeks ago when this misleading reporting led the generally insightful Master Resource Report to conclude "This is a clear...
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...
Wind Fall
Debra Fiakas Angela Merkel’s coalition government may not have looked at the nuclear power question for anything more than a “cover your behind” solution. Nonetheless, the wind industry sees last month’s decision to phase out Germany’s nuclear power generation industry by 2022 as - no pun intended - a windfall. Policy makers say as much as half of the deficit left by the shutdown of nuclear power plants will need to be made up from other power sources, principally wind power. This is no small undertaking. A total of 21,607 wind turbines with an overall...
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...
Epic Changes Are Coming in the Electric Power, Transportation and Energy Storage Sectors
John Petersen Epic is the only word I can use to describe an evolving tragedy that killed tens of thousands of people, inflicted hundreds of billions in property damage, destroyed 3.5% of Japan's base-load power generating capacity in a heartbeat and will cause recurring aftershocks in the global electric power, transportation and energy storage sectors for decades. While I'd love to believe the worst is behind us, I fear the times of trouble have just begun. Since it's clear that Japan will have to turn inward and serve the urgent needs of its own population first, the...
S&P promotes wind power as energy source
Credit rater Standard & Poor said Tuesday wind energy could be a viable alternative to oil amid higher petroleum prices. "Wind power remains often more expensive than traditional energy sources ... although it is becoming increasingly price competitive," said S&P credit analyst Jan Willem Plantagie.
Western states take lead in the drive for renewable energy
The political climate for many of the western states are slowly starting to change to see the need for conversion to renewable energy sources. These test installations for Solar, Geothermal, and Wind energy are now producing real power for these areas. The key for us is to find the vendors that supply these installations. As the funding increases in these test beds, our growth will increase. Here is a good article from the sfgate.com about the various western states initiatives. "California's goal is to produce 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2017. New Mexico...
Crude Oil & Alt Energy: The Non-Relationship That Just Won’t Go Away
Charles Morand The relationship - or lack thereof - between oil prices and the performance of alt energy stocks has been a long-time interest of mine. I discussed it last in late March when I looked at correlations between the daily returns of alt energy and fossil energy ETFs. At the time, I found that only a weak relationship existed between the two and that if someone wanted to make a thematic investment play on Peak Oil, alt energy ETFs were not an ideal way to do so. Seeing as the popular press and countless "experts"...
Wind Power in Hawaii
Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc (HE) has begun a one-year study to verify the wind energy potential on the ridges above the company's Kahe Power Plant. The study began in April of this year to monitor wind speed, direction and turbulence so the utility can confirm the area's potential to generate electricity with wind. Recently completed high-resolution wind resource maps indicate that the ridges above Kahe have one of Oahu's strongest wind resources.
Petersen’s Wind Power Paradigm Paralysis
Tom Konrad CFA I published my rebuttal to John Petersen's recent article "Gone With The Wind – Debunking Geographic Diversity" on November 1st last year. It was titled Alternative Energy: The Paradigm is the Problem. That article had two parts. The first part focused on electric vehicles, and argued that the problem with the electric car was not electric propulsion, but the car paradigm. I concluded that electric propulsion makes considerably more sense for electric bikes, trains, and buses. John clearly understood that section, because he published an article just last week "Lux Research Confirms that...
China Poised For Significant Expansion In Wind Power Generation
by William Gregozeski, CFA China is the world’s largest producer of electricity, surpassing the United States in 2011, with demand increasing alongside its strong, sustained growth in GDP. Electricity generation in China has increased 9.6% annually, from 2005 to 2013, reaching 5,425.1TWh of electricity. Coal-fired plants currently make up over two-thirds of power generation, which is partly the result of an abundance of coal in China. Despite this growth, the country expects demand to continue to increase at a rapid pace, reaching 7.295TWh of demand in 2020 and 11,595TWh in 2040. However, the growth in electricity...
Maxwell Technologies Receives 1.5 Million-Unit Ultracapacitor Purchase Order From Enercon for Wind Energy Systems
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.
