Wind energy and its potential to power a large swath of the East Coast has generated a surge of news activity in recent weeks. First, in late September, conservation advocacy group Oceana released a study suggesting that offshore wind over the Atlantic Ocean could indeed power much of the East Coast and at the same time be much friendlier to the environment than other energy alternatives including natural gas, coal, oil or nuclear energy. The Oceana study (http://na.oceana.org/en/our-work/climate-energy/clean-energy/offshore-wind-report/report) came on the heels of a U.S. Department of Energy draft plan for creating a offshore wind energy program for the U.S.
Wind Turbines, photo courtesy of Western Wind Energy
Those studies were followed by a blockbuster New York Times piece on October 12 (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/science/earth/12wind.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=matthew%20wald&st=cse) reporting that Google and two other companies, one a New York financial firm, have agreed to invest millions of dollars in a 350-mile underwater transmission “spine” cable along the Atlantic coast that would transfer the energy created by offshore wind turbines to what the Wall Street Journal estimated to be 1.9 million households along the East Coast from Virginia to New Jersey. Along with Google, the investment firm Good Energies and Marubeni, a Japanese trading company, have all agreed to invest in what is called the Atlantic Wind Connection.
As now envisioned, the five-phase project would begin in 2013, be completed in 2020 and be constructed 15 to 20 miles offshore, thereby eliminating much of the criticism of visual blight from the turbines that has plagued other high-profile wind turbine projects such as the country’s first offshore wind project called Cape Wind off Cape Cod. The cable would have a 6,000 megawatt capacity, which The Times says is equal to the output of five large nuclear reactors.
Most experts agree that an offshore transmission line would spur the construction of various offshore wind farms since developers would not need to create their own individual transmission lines, according to the Journal story.
This has to be good news for the burgeoning smallcap companies involved in wind farms and turbines, but just who might capitalize is hard to say at this point. Here is a short list of some of those smallcaps:
Fergus Falls, MN-based Otter Tail Corporation (Nasdaq: OTTR, http://www.ottertail.com) is involved in wind energy transmission but is now focused soley on Minnesota and the Dakotas. The stock price ($21.27 this week) has rallied with the rest of the market since September but is still off its 52-week high of $52.39 set last January. Since wind energy is a small part of its business and its base is in the heartland, not the coast, this could be a stretch.
Vancouver-based Western Wind Energy (CDNX: WND.V, http://www.westernwindenergy.com) is also based far west of the Atlantic. It’s currently trading for about $1.20 but since it doesn’t trade on a U.S. exchange there is little news on progress. The last headline noted that the company had closed a $2 million corporate loan but otherwise there is not much to go on.
London-based Clipper Windpower (OTC: CRPWF.PK, http://www.clipperwind.com) is a pure wind energy play but is another small stock with very little trading. It seems to be sitting at about $0.78 with no recent activity. While it’s based overseas, it does have operations in the Americas.
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