WASHINGTON, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- In a unanimous vote, the Ohio
legislature has passed a new bill requiring 12.5% of Ohio's energy be
generated from renewable sources like wind and solar. Ohio now becomes the
26th state, including California, New York and Texas, to adopt renewable
energy portfolio standards (RPS) -- tough new laws which are creating one of
the most dramatic shifts in the delivery of energy to American consumers ever.
Dozens of planned coal, natural gas and diesel fired power plants have
been cancelled across the country. Instead, 60-gigawatts of wind and solar
power (enough energy to serve 20 million American homes) will be constructed,
according to a new study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Not surprisingly, wind and solar companies are enjoying record growth.
Solar wafer maker ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) and photovoltaic company Yingli Green
Energy (NYSE: YGE) both received upgrades from analysts at Piper Jaffray this
month.
But as busy as the solar companies are wind is America's renewable energy
of choice. Last year the wind industry installed an astonishing
5244-megawatts of new wind power outpacing solar's 254-megawatts by 20-1. The
American Wind Energy Association estimates Ohio's new RPS law on its own will
result in at least $10 billion of new wind energy project investments.
Analyst recommendations in the wind power sector include NACEL Energy
(OTC Bulletin Board: NCEN). Regular CNBC guest analyst Francis Gaskins has a
$4.00 target on NACEL Energy. The Wyoming based wind power company recently
unveiled a major 80-megawatt expansion, including two new wind projects in
Texas.
Analysts also continue to like NRG Energy(NYSE: NRG) a diversified power
producer with a growing wind energy business. Lehman Bros is overweight NRG
with a $55 target.
A Before the Bell(TM) renewable energy update.
Before the Bell Publishing/Craig M. Biddick is a member of the Financial
Industry Regulatory Authority, CRD number 2382884.
SOURCE Before the Bell
