Solar, wind names rally as Russia's war seen sparking clean energy push
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Shares of solar and alternative energy companies are catching a bid on the notion that Russia's invasion of Ukraine will raise pressure on governments to build more wind and solar power to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels.
Two of Monday's top three gainers on the S&P 500 are solar companies, SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG
+11.7%) and Enphase Energy (ENPH
+8.4%), and others also trade sharply higher: JKS
+19%, AZRE
+15.1%, DQ
+14.8%, SUNW
+12.7%, RUN
+11%, NOVA
+10.7%, ARRY
+9.5%, CSIQ
+7.6%, SPWR
+7.1%, FSLR
+6.6%.
Among alternative energy names: FCEL
+14.5%, BLDP
+14.5%, PLUG
+13.2%, BE
+12.8%.
ETFs: TAN, FAN, ICLN, QCLN, PBW, PBD, ACES, CNRG, SMOG, ERTH
In Europe, Vestas Wind Systems (OTCPK:VWDRY
+14.3%), the world's biggest maker of wind turbines, gained as much as 15%, while competitor Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (OTCPK:GCTAY
+13.0%) rose 12% and Nordex (OTCPK:NRDXF
+15.0%) jumped as much as 20%; Orsted (OTCPK:DNNGY
+10.7%), the world's largest developer of offshore wind farms, gained nearly 10%.
"There's a realization that Europe has to move away from dependency on Russian oil and gas and one way to achieve that is renewables," Deepa Venkateswaran, an analyst at Bernstein Autonomous, tells Bloomberg. "Now it's not just about decarbonization, but also about security of supply."
But with projects tangled in red tape, executives for top turbine makers wrote last week to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to urge the European Union to take action to speed up the permitting process for new wind farms.
Plug Power is "progressing well in its 500 TPD of green hydrogen production by 2025, and its electrolyzer business is showing great momentum as demand continues to build," Simple Investing writes in a bullish analysis newly posted on Seeking Alpha.