Renewable Energy

Obama’s nuclear gift to Modi is shrewd investment

26 Jan 2015

The U.S. president has unblocked a stalled nuclear power deal with India, allowing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to build new reactors. While that will boost orders for GE-Hitachi and Westinghouse, bigger gains to the U.S. economy will come from ending India’s energy deficit.

Solar upstarts and utilities head for uneasy truce

15 Dec 2014

The soaring popularity of solar panels in the U.S. cuts carbon emissions but upsets utilities trying to make a return on grid investments. The industry’s attempts to slap fees on solar users sparked uproar in 2014. A new cost-sharing approach may take the heat out of the debate.

Review: How Big Oil could grease invisible hand

22 Sep 2014

“Pump” contends that democracy at the gas station would help U.S. democracy more broadly. Offering drivers fuel choices like ethanol, as Brazil did, might ease the grip of Exxon Mobil and its peers. The film makes a convincing case, even as it evades some inconvenient truths.

RWE, E.ON gain little from German energy revamp

8 Apr 2014

Coal and gas power generators might hope to profit from a reform of costly subsidies for solar and wind power. But while the government is trying to cut costs, the target - almost doubling the share of renewables by 2025 - hasn’t changed. RWE and E.ON will continue to suffer.

Are resurgent solar stocks burning too bright?

19 Nov 2013

Shares in panel makers like Trina and JinkoSolar have soared this year. Recent earnings show a long-awaited return to the black now that panel prices are recovering after an 80 pct slump. Profit growth is set to shine, but stock prices look to have gone too far, too soon.

U.S. utilities want to rain on solar parade

15 Nov 2013

A lobby group says solar power may put $170 bln of utility revenue at risk. Meanwhile Elon Musk’s panel installer SolarCity could quadruple sales in two years, and solar ventures abound. No wonder a big Arizona utility is fighting back with a fee on citizens with solar panels.

German push to green power is brave but risky

24 Apr 2013

Europe’s industrial leader wants to wean itself off nuclear power and fossil fuels, so Germany will become the world’s test laboratory for renewable energy. The policy is farsighted, but in urgent need of more German efficiency to keep costs under control.

Goldman renewable energy dash more than greenwash

24 May 2012

The Wall Street firm says it will deploy $40 bln over a decade. It isn’t above self-serving spin, but it’s also never far from the money. With solar and wind power nearing competitive cost levels, clean energy could burnish Goldman’s bottom line as well as its green credentials.

Uncle Sam can’t play China’s solar subsidy game

7 Sep 2011

The bankruptcy of Solyndra undermines a U.S. loan guarantee scheme that backed $535 mln of the firm’s debt. Going head-to-head against China on solar panel production is pure folly. A wiser use of tax dollars would be to try and leapfrog the Middle Kingdom on research.

Four reasons to hedge against Japanese equities

28 Mar 2011

The bright side, so hard to see in the wake of the disaster, is now the consensus in Japan's market. But politics, power shortages, consumer conservatism and the unresolved nuclear crisis are chipping away at the optimism. It is time to hedge against disappointment.

Running out of water in the UK

18 Aug 2010

The sector is unsustainable without changes in policy and the regulatory framework, a report for one of its biggest companies concluded recently. Neil Woodford, whose Invesco funds are big investors in utilities, is threatening to bail out. It's time for some radical thinking.

UK water could disappear beneath the waves

1 Feb 2010

Should Northumbrian Water be swallowed by private equity, just three UK water and sewage companies would remain listed. When the state sold the original 10, comparison was supposed to be a proxy for competition. But without the market's scrutiny, that's effectively impossible.

RWE spends E9bn on neighbourhood shopping

12 Jan 2009

The German utility is to buy Essent, a Netherlands power company, after an allDutch deal was thwarted by competition authorities last year. RWE is exploiting a Dutch market that s more liberalised than Germany s. The twist is that the deal could be blocked on those very grounds.

Kelda bid shows infrastructure market still hot

23 Nov 2007

Citigroup and HSBC's proposed £3bn bid values the UK water group at a 29% premium to its regulated assets an even higher multiple than JP Morgan paid for Southern Water last month. Clearly infrastructure funds have yet to be discouraged by the credit crunch. Investors in other UK water stocks will be licking their chops.

Southern Water deal boost for infrastructure funds

9 Oct 2007

A JP Morganled consortium is paying £4.2bn for the UK utility in the first big test of the infrastructure market since the credit crunch. Not only is the price a touch higher than originally anticipated, but the debt package is similar to previous deals. That suggests the market is still alive for the right assets.

RBS turns Southern Water into diamonds

13 Jul 2007

The UK bank s buyout arm bought the utility at its regulated asset value in 2003, and geared it up. Thanks to the miracle of leverage, and a more generous valuation of safe old water pipes, the bank looks to have tripled its money.

Sarko’s latest reported Suez scheme is rich in irony

28 Jun 2007

The French government apparently wants it to get rid of its water business before merging with GdF. Not only would that remove the only thing that's really French in Suez; it is exactly what activist shareholders have long demanded.

Veolia’s E2.6bn share sale is cost of growth

12 Jun 2007

The French utility has abandoned its reckless dreams of massive growth. But these days even sensible acquisitions are expensive. In order to pay the high prices bid up by private equity and infrastructure funds Veolia is issuing its own modestly rated shares.

France keeps foreigners out of water business

20 Mar 2007

French politicians effectively blocked PAI from selling Saur to Macquarie. The company is being sold to stateowned CDC instead. France keeps protecting its water business even though French companies keep on acquiring assets abroad. It s high time to open up.

Do infrastructure funds care about value?

15 Dec 2006

Techem, a German meterreading business, seems worried that they might not. One concern is that Macquarie would underinvest. LBO firm BC Partners might be able to add more value over time, but its bid is lower. And it will be tough to turn down more money.