Renewable Energy Investing for 2018

I wrote my first renewable energy outlook in 2006.

It didn’t go over so well.

Here are just a few responses I received after writing it:

“Solar is a scam. You’re an idiot!”

“I don’t take investment advice from hippie treehuggers. Sorry.”

And my all-time favorite:

“You should be fired for giving this kind of irresponsible advice!”

I won’t lie.

Those comments did throw me. But I knew I was right.

I did the research…

I interviewed the right people…

I stuck to my guns, despite all the negativity.

And I’m glad I did. Because members of my Green Chip Stocks private investment community made a fortune that year in wind and solar. And they continue to do so to this very day.

The Data Don’t Lie

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you know the renewable energy market continues to grow rapidly.

In fact, a couple years ago I stopped writing the words “alternative energy,” as there is nothing “alternative” about solar, wind, and geothermal any longer.

This stuff is now permanently integrated into the global energy economy, and it continues to snatch market share faster than anything else — including natural gas, which is still practically free in the United States.

Consider the following data points from Bloomberg’s top energy analysts…

• 72% of the $10.2 trillion spent on new power generation worldwide to 2040 will be invested in new wind and solar photovoltaic plants.
• The levelized cost of electricity from solar is set to drop another 66% by 2040. By 2021, it’ll be cheaper than coal in China, India, Mexico, and the UK. It’s already as cheap as coal in Germany, Australia, Spain, Italy, and parts of the U.S.
• Levelized costs for onshore wind will fall another 47% by 2040, and offshore wind costs will fall by 71%, thanks to more efficient (and cheaper) turbines and economies of scale.

I have to be honest. Back in 2006, I had no idea we’d be this far along. But the truth is, in many regions, renewable energy is quickly moving to a point where it will soon be responsible for more than half of all electricity generation.

That being said, much of this would not be possible without storage. And this, dear reader, is where you’ll find the lion’s share of opportunity in 2018.

No More Excuses

The sun doesn’t shine at night.

The wind doesn’t blow all the time.

These are the excuses we often hear from those who refuse to accept the fact that the global energy economy is transitioning to one that will be heavily weighted in renewable energy.

Indeed, the sun doesn’t shine at night, and the wind doesn’t blow all the time. But that just doesn’t matter anymore, thanks to advances in storage technology.

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the global energy storage market is set to double six times by 2030. Check it out:

The global energy storage market will double six times between 2016 and 2030, rising to a total of 125 gigawatts/305 gigawatt-hours. This is a similar trajectory to the remarkable expansion that the solar industry went through from 2000 to 2015, in which the share of photovoltaics as a percentage of total generation doubled seven times. Eight countries will lead the market, with 70 percent of capacity to be installed in the U.S., China, Japan, India, Germany, U.K., Australia and South Korea. Energy storage, both utility-scale and behind-the-meter, will be a crucial source of flexibility throughout this period and will be essential to integrating increasing levels of renewable energy.

Solar and wind stocks no longer offer the meteoric rises in valuations we saw 10 years ago.

This is because solar and wind are now staples of the global energy economy. The big moves delivering gains in excess of 500%, 700%, and 1,100% no longer exist. Instead, we’re now seeing renewable energy stocks generally moving the way we see conventional energy stocks move.

There will still be ups and downs, as politics and policy can still affect the market. But we’re now talking about solar and wind stocks boasting billion-dollar market caps and offering dividends. This is a far cry from the Wild West days that existed only 10 years ago.

Today, renewable energy stocks follow a trajectory more aligned with the state of energy markets in general, instead of following a trajectory based on an over-allotment of enthusiasm and a race for the pole position.

But that’s not necessarily the case for storage.

Get Some of This Action!

Today, the energy storage space is where we’re looking for the big moves.

We’re looking to pinpoint the most lucrative battery companies, the companies that are providing materials for battery manufacturing, and the companies developing more efficient battery chemistries and technologies.

Of course, it should also be noted that the energy storage space is not just about batteries.

There are flywheel technologies, compressed air energy storage, pumped hydropower, and thermal.

All of this stuff is up for grabs in terms of new investment opportunities, as all this stuff is crucial to the continued development of the renewable energy market.

Now, members of my Green Chip Stocks private investment community have made their fair share of profits from the renewable energy space. But in 2018, in terms of renewable energy investments, we’re going to be focusing a bit more on energy storage. Because, quite frankly, that’s where we’re going to get the most bang for our buck.

If you’d like to get in on this action, too, click here and become a member.

Green Chip Stocks members will also continue to get regular investment alerts on next-level biotech stocks and legal cannabis stocks, too. The latter, by the way, is where we continue to make the most money. You can read more about that here.

But make no mistake; while the legal cannabis space has made us an enormous amount of money in 2017 and will continue to do so in 2018, we’re also going to be spending more time covering the energy storage space. Because, to put it simply, that’s where the money is.

To a new way of life and a new generation of wealth…

Jeff Siegel

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@JeffSiegel on Twitter

Jeff is the founder and managing editor of Green Chip Stocks. For more on Jeff, go to his editor’s page.

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