The demand on energy increases every day as world’s population is growing – we are expecting to have 1,7 billion more people living on Earth till 2040. This means that the energy use will expand by 25% in the next 20 years.
Meanwhile, nearly 80% of our energy is still derived from fossil fuels. But what about the environment and the climate change? We are dealing with a big question now: how to increase the amount of energy we get, and reduce the negative impact on the environment from getting it at the same time?
Clean energy may be a solution to this problem. It is often being confused with renewable energy, but the point is that clean energy has way more options. Nuclear energy, biofuels, natural gas and energy from waste create a huge field to invest in, and include every alternative to traditional coal and oil. While renewable energy technologies may not be perfectly developed and efficient, and may require some specific circumstances to work, clean energy sources are closer to traditional ones, and could possibly create big profits for those who choose the right companies to invest in.
Top renewable energy stocks to invest in now!
This article will describe 5 renewable and clean energy companies which sell their stocks to public and are a great choice to invest in. Clean energy is definitely our future, so those who invest in alternative energy stocks now may gain huge profits in future!
NextEra Energy (NEE)
NextEra energy is one of the world’s largest producer of wind and solar energy. It’s Florida Power and Light affiliate supplies 5 mln inhabitants of Florida with renewable energy. Company also has a subsidiary NextEra Energy resources which produces 13,000 megawatts of wind energy annually, making it one of the largest electric utilities in the US.
Buying NextEra solar and wind stocks is a great long-haul investment because company has a very diverse choice of energy facilities: solar, wind, natural gas and nuclear power plants.
Renewable Energy Group (REGI)
Renewable Energy Group is a company which produces biodiesel fuel from vegetable oils and animal fats. Company recycles used cooking oil and different kinds of fats using a transesterification process. REGI claims that biodiesel is cheaper and more efficient than the traditional one due to higher cetane, added lubricity and a cleaner burn. 70% of biodiesel produced by Renewable Energy Group is sold to big travel centers and fuel distributors.
10 American states bought 1.5 billion gallons of fuel from Renewable Energy Group in 2018, 450 million more comparing to 2016, so you can tell that the demand for fuel from the company is high and increases each year, which makes green energy stocks from REGI an attractive purchase.
First Solar
If you are looking for renewable energy stocks, First Solar may be a perfect choice for you. It is an industry leading manufacturer of solar panels, which invests huge amounts of money into developing new technologies and producing more efficient and modern solar panels. Crystalline silicon technology which is traditionally used in regular solar panels, is replaced by thin-film modules that use cadmium telluride as a semiconductor. This technology makes the produced energy way cheaper but leads to the decreasing efficiency of a panel, so First Solar makes bigger panels in order to offset this loss. Solar panels from First Solar are perfect for utility-scale projects: the same amount of power is produced by less number of panels. As a result, First Solar is an owner of the world’s largest grid-connected solar power plants.
As it was previously mentioned, company invests money in developing new technologies. Now, innovative products from First Solar carry higher margins and are far ahead of the industry. First Solar is on the first place in solar sector with one of the best balance sheets in the industry. It is expected that by the end of 2019 company will have between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion of net cash.
Ormat Technologies
Ormat Technologies is the only company which operates vertically integrated geothermal energy engineering in the world. It owns a portfolio of assets with 917 MW of power, and is expected to increase it up to 1 GW by adding up to 135 MW of organic growth in 3 years. According to the “Projects that energy storage deployments will grow 13-fold over the next six years” report by Wood Mackenzie Power and Renewables, Ormat Technologies is going to invest money in expanding into the energy storage market. At the moment, company offers different types of energy storage services from building the energy storage facilities to operating them.
So, if we look at Ormat Technologies as green energy stocks to invest in, turns out the company has been growing its profits for 7,5%-7,9% annually for the past 5 years. Although the balance sheet of Ormat Technologies may look questionable due to the amount of assets company owns that could lead to a huge debt, the net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio of Ormat Technologies is under 3, so this company is safe enough to buy renewable energy stocks from it.
Brookfield Renewable Partners
Brookfield Renewable Partners is a renewable yieldco. Company focuses on hydroelectric assets, but also owns solar, wind and energy storage facilities so you can invest in any kind of clean energy stocks, including wind energy stocks. Brookfield Renewable Partners works under long-term fixed-price power contracts. Current yielding dividend is 4,3%, but the company plans to increase it to 9% till 2024 by investing $4 billion in building and buying new renewable energy assets. This development plan along with the increasing yielding dividend makes sustainable energy stocks from Brookfield Renewable Partners a reasonable investment.
Looking for the best renewable energy stocks may not be easy at all, but this article presents some companies in the renewable energy sector that may be helpful in your search. Our future depends on becoming a more sustainable society, so investing money in a developing industry that has an important mission is always a good idea.
