Originally published June 9 2005
Status of wind-power and solar-power companies depends on government incentives
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Wind is becoming a cost-competitive source of electricity, and makers of wind turbines like Vestas Wind Systems and Gamesa are doing well. Wind-power development depends on a production tax credit renewed every year, so when the credit is on, development booms; if the credit is off, development shuts down. Experts predict the credit will be extended again this year, to the relief of FPL Group, the leading U.S. wind farm developer. Sure, wind farms need a windy location and a nearby grid infrastructure that can handle the inevitable big surges, but these government incentives are the final say on wind power's success or failure. The same is true for solar power companies, who might boom as the result of incentives like Arnold Schwarzenegger's Million Solar Roofs program.
I'm here to tell you that widespread use of solar power is just around the corner."
Eight years later, I'll say it again: Widespread use of solar power -- and wind power, and, eventually, hydrogen fuel cells -- is just around the corner.
I'm convinced that oil prices will continue to climb, and that the Bush administration's oil-centric energy policy will give way to something sane within a few years.
Along the way, we'll see great opportunities across the alternative-energy spectrum.
The first thing I'd look at in this volatile and speculative arena is a new exchange-traded fund from PowerShares that's based on the WilderHill Clean Energy Index (PBW).
The leaders are European companies riding years of government incentives -- Vestas Wind Systems (VWS:GR) of Denmark and Gamesa (GAM:SM) of Spain are both good plays, though neither is traded on U.S. exchanges.
WIND POWER Projected market size: $48B Company to watch: Vestas (VWS:GR) Market cap: $2.3B SOLAR POWER Projected market size: $39B Company to watch: Evergreen Solar (ESLR) Market cap: $383M FUEL CELLS Projected market size: $15B Company to watch: Ballard (BLDP) Market cap: $451M Note: Market size projections are for 2014.
Sources: Clean Edge; Business 2.0 research Wind-power development in the United States ebbs and flows with a single federal policy: a production tax credit that has to be renewed every year or so.
The share price of Evergreen Solar (ESLR), the one pure-play in photovoltaic solar panels, has doubled in the past year and may just be starting its run.
Global warming has melted the hostility with which "green" investors once viewed this technology, but don't be fooled: Nobody wants a nuclear plant in his backyard, waste storage continues to be a problem, and the industry will always be one accident away from oblivion.
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