Renewables' Bull Run

Call me hung up on Shell's recent belittling of renewables prospects, but I will use this excuse to again harp on the great potential that solar, wind and wave power represent.

TreeHugger points to a Business 2.0 article on the commercial prospects of investing in clean energy technology companies. There is the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, "which incorporates fuel-cell, solar, wind, and conservation technology stocks". Some technology picks are mentioned there, and it looks like fortunes are there for the making. Interestingly Evergreen Solar, a pure-play photovoltaic solar panels maker, has seen its share price double in the last one year. The only Indian angle comes via Vestas, the Danish giant that also has a joint venture in India.

Talking for Indian investors, there are almost no options, except for NEPC which is into wind power. The IPO was floated in the 90's when wind power was a sun-rise industry in India and had seen a stock market bubble grow and burst then. But the biggest player in the wind power production industry in India is Suzlon, which is not publicly traded. On the solar power side, there are no big power producers, just equipment makers and the biggest there is Tata-BP Solar, which is again not publicly traded. If hydro-electricity is considered as renewable (though not clean and green) energy we do have Jaiprakash Hydro-Power Limited, which went in for an IPO recently.

On the Treehugger link, please do check out the first comment. It is pretty informative for someone interested in trends in the solar power industry.