Alternative Energy Stocks

My sister, who is a linocut artist, just finished some wind turbine prints for me.  One is below, you can check out the others at facebook.com/SarahKonradArt

By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA Geothermal power is a type of renewable electricity that even the most conservative electric utilities find it easy to get behind.  Like conventional coal and gas plants, it uses heat to drive a turbine which in turn creates electricity.  The main difference is that the heat comes from natural geologic processes, rather than burning fossil fuels, making it renewable and free of greenhouse gas emissions, giving it considerable environmental appeal as well. Where Geothermal Developers Stumble The problem lies in the resource.  The potential for producing power from solar, wind, and hydropower at any location can be...

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...

By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA Second quarter earnings season is in full swing.  Below are a couple updates and the monthly performance chart that I recently shared with my Patreon supporters. Green Plains Partners Earnings and Future Dividend (published August 2nd) Ethanol Master Limited Partnership Green Plains Partners (GPP) declared second quarter earnings today.  The main news remains the long anticipated debt refinancing and new dividend guidance going forward. At the end of the first quarter, I predicted that, after debt refinancing, GPP would increase its quarterly dividend to something in the $0.25 to $0.30 range.   The new guidance is for the partnership to target...

By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA Even as the broad market rose, the start of 2021 was brutal for clean energy stocks. The sector experienced a bubble in late 2020 and January this year as optimism grew that we finally had a President who understands the magnitude of the climate problem and has committed to do something about it. The bubble also grew from the great hope that with the presidency and slim majorities in both houses of congress, he would actually be able to get his agenda through. That might have happened if the Senate Republicans were interested in governing and...

By Jim Lane The case Last week’s decision stems from a May 2018 challenge brought against EPA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit by the Renewable Fuels Association, the National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, and the American Coalition for Ethanol, working together as the Biofuels Coalition. The petitioners argued that the small refinery exemptions were granted in direct contradiction to the statutory text and purpose of the RFS and challenged three waivers the EPA issued to refineries owned by HollyFrontier Corp. and CVR Energy Inc.’s Wynnewood Refining Co. The case is HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining, LLC v....

By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA About a month ago, an astute reader asked me if Eneti's (NETI) contracted Wind Turbine Installation Vessel (WTIV) would be able to operate in US waters since it will not be compliant with the Jones Act.  For those not familiar, the Jones Act requires that all transport of goods between US ports must be done by vessels built in the US, and owned and operated by US citizens. I looked into it, and concluded that it probably could, since installing wind turbines is not transport, but rather lifting (jack-up, in the parlance), an exemption which is...

by Ishaan Goel The second article in this series on water electrolyzers focused on polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzers (PEMEs). PEMEs have increasingly captured the interest of industry over recent years, due to favorable technical characteristics. Despite this, the global electrolyzer market today is dominated by a much older model - alkaline electrolyzers (ALKEs). (For details of how both electrolyzers work, refer to the first article in the series). The graph above shows the investment costs ($/kW) of ALKEs and PEMEs as the technology has advanced over time. In other words, they show the initial capital cost for every 1 kW of...

by Jan Schalkwijk, CFA ESG investing is all the rage these days. That is, investing that includes the non-traditional  environmental, social, and governance factors in the investment process.  Its appeal to the broader investment industry is twofold: 1) The writing is on the wall: as wealth is passed down to younger generations who in the aggregate care more about values alignment, the asset management industry does not want to lose the assets and the fees they generate. 2) Thematic investing is popular and ESG is one of the hottest themes. Wall Street is not going to miss out. Much like crypto...

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...

By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA Here are two more updates from last week on Patreon.  Also, I realize I neglected to publish the monthly performance chart for my 10 Clean Energy Stocks model portfolio here at the start of the month, so here it is as well: Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure Earnings (published May 11th) Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure (AY) released its first quarter earnings announcement and financial statements on May 6th. Atlantica is one of the higher yielding Yieldcos, 5.3% at the new quarterly dividend rate of $0.43 and a $32.50 stock price.  The dividend is safe, since most of Atlantica's debt is fixed rate,...

By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA You don’t have to own mining companies to benefit from rising metals prices. This is a roundup of first quarter earnings notes shared with my Patreon supporters over the last week. Waste to energy operator Covanta and specialty metals recycler Umicore are both benefiting from skyrocketing metals prices. Just as renewable energy and energy efficiency stocks have long shown that investors don’t have to own fossil fuel companies to benefit from rising prices of fossil fuels, recyclers like Covanta and Umicore are showing that you don’t have to own environmentally damaging mining companies to benefit from rising...

by Ishaan Goel The first article in this series introduced two prominent types of water electrolyzers – alkaline electrolyzers (ALKEs) and polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzers (PEMEs). Electrolyzers are devices that convert water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. They enable energy storage through hydrogen when combined with fuel cells, and can decarbonize hydrogen production for industry if supplied with renewable power. Subsequent articles shall focus on various characteristics of these two electrolyzer variants. The graph above shows the investment costs ($/kW) of PEMEs and ALKEs as the technology has advanced over time. In other words, they show the initial capital cost...

By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA This is a roundup of first quarter earnings notes shared with my Patreon supporters over the last week. If there is any theme, it’s that low interest rates and increased interest in green investments is lowering Yieldcos’ cost of capital to the benefit of stock investors. Avangrid Earnings Avangrid's (AGR) Q1 earnings report showed solid progress.  Key items of note were: Increased outlook for full year 2021 Adjusted EPS a little over 5%  Key environmental approval for 800 MW offshore wind farm Vineyard Wind. Expected to begin construction later this year, with expected completion in 2024.  Avangrid...

by Paula Mints The solar industry has a supply chain problem – no, not just the current polysilicon and glass constraints. Solar wafer, ingot, cell, and module manufacturing are concentrated in China and South East Asia, leaving buyers outside these areas vulnerable to supply chain shocks. Countries in this region have lower labor costs, lower energy costs, and higher incentives and subsidies for manufacturers. In China, manufacturing is supported (and controlled) by the central government. Manufacturers in China, who have expanded into South East Asia, can make do with lower margins than their counterparts in other countries. Manufacturers in South East Asia and China...

By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA Last month saw buying opportunities in some clean energy stocks as the bubble created from the euphoria over Biden’s election vanished as if it never happened. Clean energy stocks have simply returned to the general upward trendline from the second and third quarter of 2020.  Rather than bursting in a market panic, this seems to have been more of a general deflation. Some clean energy stocks seem reasonably priced, but there are no great values like we often see during the market panics which typically follow bubbles.  Without a panic, I’m not ready to buy aggressively.  Stocks...