Beyond its positive climate transition impact, there are many appealing reasons to invest in wind. But where should you start? What companies are making real progress and change in the wind industry in 2022? We've selected 11 wind stocks to inspire you in your climate impact investing journey.
According to Global Wind Report 2022, the global wind industry had its second-best year in 2021, with almost 94 GW of capacity added globally, trailing behind the 2020’s record growth by only 1.8%. Total global wind power capacity is now up to 837 GW, helping the world avoid over 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 annually – equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of South America.
The tailwinds behind this industry are also predicted to accelerate with the recent US Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which will inject US$360 billion in energy and climate change programs over the next decade, including enormous tax incentives to advance renewable energy.
What does that mean for the wind industry? The Princeton University’s Zero Lab’s predicts this bill will spur record-setting growth in wind and solar capacity: doubling to $321 billion in 2030, versus $177 billion under the previous policy.
Outside of listed companies (stocks), there is of course a long list of other asset classes and investment vehicles you can invest in to diversify your portfolio and get exposure to Cleantech investing including, ETFS, Bonds, and funds. You can check out what these are in our Guide to Climate Impact Investing. The list below is of course not financial advice, and not an exact reflection of the Bloom climate impact fund holdings.
Always strive to complete your own research and seek financial advice. This list is a snapshot to inspire you to start your climate impact investing journey using some of the research we have completed in building our portfolio. In this Blog, we'll focus on the companies making an impact in alignment with Project Drawdown’s electricity sector model. More specifically, wind.
Electricity Sector
Although the electricity sector has the potential to be our strongest tool against climate change, it’s also the worst carbon emitter. According to Project Drawdown, the electricity sector generates 25% of the world’s carbon emissions. That’s more than what our land sinks can hold, meaning a lot of those emissions are being released into the atmosphere.
But we already have the means necessary to make a large impact on our electricity emissions.
Solar, wind, and hydropower are examples of alternative sources for oil, and natural gas power. But before we go further, here are some terms necessary to know.
The unit of measurement for electricity is ‘watt’ and when discussing large amounts of watts the two terms often used are ‘Megawatts’ (MW) and ‘Gigawatts’ (GW), both of which will be used often in this article. In terms of ‘watts’, there are 1 million in a Megawatt and 1 billion in a Gigawatt. Let’s put that in perspective…
1 GW is equal to:
3.125 Million Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Panels
Or 364 Utility-Scale Wind Turbines
Or 110 Million LED Lights
Or 2,000 Corvette Z06s
Or roughly 1.3 Million Horses
This sort of power, 1 GW, is enough to power 750,000 homes.
Wind
The wind industry is marked by a proliferation of turbines, dropping costs, and heightened performance. In many locales, wind is either competitive with or less expensive than coal-generated electricity.
There are three categories of wind impact solutions from Project Drawdown. These are:
Micro Wind Turbines: Windmills that capture kinetic energy for pumping water, charging battering, and providing power for rural locations
Onshore Wind: Onshore wind farms have small footprints, typically using no more than 1 percent of the land they sit on, so grazing, farming, recreation, or conservation can happen simultaneously with power generation.
Offshore Wind: Offshore Wind Turbines use offshore utility-scale wind power technologies to generate electricity. This solution is increasingly being adopted where wind is less intermittent and the turbines can harvest more energy than is the case for onshore wind.
Now, let’s check out some companies that are making a positive impact on climate change with the power of the wind.
We do not endorse or recommend investing in these companies specifically. Data has been sourced from Simply Wall Street and company reports.
Role Call
Before we kick things off, here’s a guide on the featured financial information below.
Company performance:
When the information was collected from Simply Wall Street (12th of December, 2022)
Market Cap: The dollar value of their stock multiplied by the total number of pending shares
Earnings (TTM): The company's wages or money earned trailing over the previous 12 months.
Revenue (TTM): The company's total profits generated operations like sales trailing over the previous 12 months.
Onshore Wind Turbines, Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaics
Energix has a portfolio of photovoltaic projects and large-scale wind farms. It has more than 1GW of projects under development and 258WMp in commercial operation.
Energix performance:
Dec 12, 2022
Market Cap ₪6.15b
Earnings (TTM) ₪153.91m
Revenue (TTM) ₪402.44m
*₪: Israeli New Shekel/ Currency of Israel
Impact: Energix’s clean energy mitigated 497,348 tons of CO₂ in 2020
Small Hydropower, Onshore Wind Turbines, Distributed Solar Photovoltaics, Concentrated Solar Power, Distributed Energy Storage, Microgrids, Biomass Power
Acciona is a Spanish company dedicated to the development and management of infrastructure and renewable energy. Present in 40 countries, it has generated 6.5 billion euros in 2020 sales. The Acciona business provisions span energy, utilities, transport, infrastructure and urbanisation, therein attacking climate change on many fronts.
Acciona SA performance:
Dec 12, 2022
Market Cap €9.71b
Earnings (TTM) €385.05m
Revenue (TTM) €10.43b
€: Currency sign for the Euro
Impact: Owns and operates 11GW of onshore wind, photovoltaic, biomass, hydroelectric, and solar thermal power facilities across 16 countries
Onshore Wind Turbines, Offshore Wind Turbines, Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaics, Grid Flexibility
EDP Renovaveis (which translates to EDP Renewables), is a Spanish-based renewable energy company. Currently recognised as the fourth-largest wind energy producer, EDPR’s operations feature the use of onshore and offshore wind farms, and solar parks, to create renewable forms of energy.
EDP Renovaveis S.A. performance:
Dec 12, 2022
Market Cap €20.68b
Earnings (TTM) €923.44m
Revenue (TTM) €2.08b
€: Currency sign for the Euro
Impact: Generated 30.3GTWh of clean energy in 2021 (1 TWh = 1,000 GWh)
Onshore Wind Turbines, Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaics, Offshore Wind Turbines
Northland Power produces, develops, constructs, owns and operates clean and green electricity and power infrastructure. Its portfolio includes natural gas, wind, and solar.
Northland Power performance:
Dec 12, 2022
Market Cap CA$9.29b
Earnings (TTM) CA$641.77m
Revenue (TTM) CA$2.45b
CA: Canadian Dollar
Impact: Renewable facilities mitigated 2.15MT of CO₂e
Onshore Wind Turbines, Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaics, Utility-Scale Energy Storage, Small Hydropower
Boralex and its subsidiaries specialise in wind, solar, hydroelectricity, and storage. It primarily operates in Canada, France, and the U.S. and has interests in 90 wind power stations, 16 hydroelectric power stations, 12 solar power stations, and one thermal power station.
Boralex performance:
Dec 12, 2022
Market Cap CA$3.90b
Earnings (TTM) CA$33.00m
Revenue (TTM) CA$707.00m
CA: Canadian Dollar
Impact: Mitigated 352,666 tons of CO₂ in 2021 by generating renewable energy
Onshore Wind Turbines, Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaics, Offshore Wind Turbines
Avangrid participates in renewable energy generation, transmissions and distribution. Although it primarily operates onshore wind power facilities, it also operates solar, biomass and thermal power facilities.
Avangrid performance:
Dec 12, 2022
Market Cap US$16.49b
Earnings (TTM) US$898.00m
Revenue (TTM) US$7.70b
Impact: Third largest wind operator in the U.S.
Onshore Wind Turbines, Offshore Wind Turbines, Small Hydropower, Microgrids, Distributed Solar Photovoltaics, Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaics
General Electric (GE) is a high-tech industrial company that operates across power, renewable energy, aviation, and healthcare. GE business includes service solutions, manufacturing, and software.
General Electric performance:
Dec 12, 2022
Market Cap US$89.00b
Earnings (TTM) -US$5.17b
Revenue (TTM) US$75.07b
Impact: Owns a prototype wind turbine that began operating at 14 MW in 2021 with the potential to mitigate 52,000 metric tons of CO₂
Offshore Wind Turbines, Onshore Wind Turbines
Vestas Wind Systems is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. They design, manufacture, install and service these wind turbines across the globe, using data to interpret, exploit and forecast wind resources to deliver the best wind power solutions in the industry. We like that Vestas is leading the global transition to renewable energy, but are also committed to reaching net-zero within their own operations and dedicated to incorporating sustainability into everything they do.
Vestas performance:
Dec 12, 2022
Market Cap kr.205.16b
Earnings (TTM) -kr.7.39b
Revenue (TTM) kr.106.06b
kr: Swedish Krona
Impact: Has 132GW of combined capacity under service
Onshore Wind Turbines, Offshore Wind Turbines, Distributed Energy Storage
SSE PLC is one of the UK’s largest electricity network companies and operates through developing low carbon infrastructure. This infrastructure includes onshore and offshore wind, hydropower, electricity transmission and distribution grids, and efficient gas-fired generation.
SSE PLC performance:
Dec 12, 2022
Market Cap UK£18.20b
Earnings (TTM) UK£1.03b
Revenue (TTM) UK£10.69b
UK£: Pound Sterling
Impact: 2.4GW of renewable energy capacity is under construction (2022)
Onshore Wind Turbines, Water Distribution Efficiency
Algonquin acquires and operates green and clean energy such as hydroelectric, wind, and solar plants. It also operates in the sustainable utility distribution business, such as water, wastewater treatment, electricity, and natural gas.
Algonquin performance:
Dec 12, 2022
Market Cap CA$6.68b
Earnings (TTM) CA$39.70m
Revenue (TTM) CA$3.57b
CA: Canadian Dollar
Impact: Renewable energy assets have a generation capacity of ~4.2GW
Onshore Wind Turbines, Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaics, Distributed Solar Photovoltaics, Distributed Energy Storage
Clearway energy participates in every stage of its energy projects, from development and construction to management and operations. Its projects include utility-scale wind and solar as well as community and distributed solar.
Clearway Energy performance:
Dec 12, 2022
Market Cap US$6.38b
Earnings (TTM) US$562.00m
Revenue (TTM) US$1.24b
Impact: Its 5.6GW capacity portfolio can power 1.7 million homes
You can make an impact!
These companies are just the tip of the iceberg!
Here at Bloom, we have created a unique and new Climate Impact Investing Methodology. The Bloom fund invests in businesses like those in this article to create a positive climate impact and accelerate the world’s transition to a cleaner future while striving to generate financial returns for its investors. Each business that Bloom considers must meet an impact solution, like wind, from Project Drawdown or ClimateWorks, and the asset itself needs to be a sound investment financially. The info in this article is a glimpse into our research and represents the businesses we believe meet some of these criteria.
The above list is not an exact reflection of the bloom climate impact fund holdings, nor an exhaustive list of all the cleantech investing opportunities that exist. This list is a snapshot to inspire you to start your climate impact investing journey using some of the research we have completed in building our portfolio.
Want to know more?
Get impact investing news, investment updates, and upcoming Bloom events through the Bloom Impact Investing App. Download the Bloom app today and start using your investments to fight climate change. And keep an eye out for our next eBook, a culmination of cleantech investment companies that are actively and positively impacting climate change.
Don't forget, you can also join the Bloom community if you want to learn more about sustainable investing. We have an upcoming array of events where you can learn how to make a positive impact on your finances.
The information on this website is prepared by Bloom Impact Investment Services Pty Ltd (CAN 651 965 098 AR 001294778), who is an authorised representative of Cache Investment Management Pty Ltd (CAN 624 306 430 AFSL 514 360) (Cache). Bloom’s financial products are issued by Melbourne Securities Corporation Limited (ACN 160 326 545 AFSL 428 289), as disclosed in the relevant PDS. All information provided in this article is general information only and does not take into account your personal circumstances, financial situation or needs. Before making a financial decision, you should read the relevant product disclosure statement and target market determination to consider whether the product is right for you and whether you should obtain advice from a professional financial adviser.