The article below on renewable energy highlights the strong growth in solar energy. The Solar ETF (TAN) was up 130% in 2013.
While there will be extreme downside volatility in this sector at times, the upward trend is till in progress. ETF PM currently has long positions in SolarCity (SCTY), Canadian Solar (CSIQ), and the Solar ETF (TAN).
Renewable energy gaining on fossil fuels
Travis Hoium, The Motley Fool, 1/31/14
Energy in the 21st century is already turning out to be very different from energy in the 20th century. Coal plants that used to provide most of the country’s electricity are being shut down by the hundreds and renewable energy is becoming more cost efficient and prevalent by the day.
The trends are heavily in favor of renewable energy, and solar energy in particular is taking the U.S. and the world by storm.
Renewable energy becoming a big player
Since 2007, electricity generation from coal has fallen 24.9% from 2.02 billion MW-hrs to 1.51 billion MW-hrs in 2012. Meanwhile, over the same time frame wind grew 309% to 140.8 million MW-hrs and solar grew 607% to 4.3 million MW-hrs. That doesn’t include distributed solar on residential rooftops or any installations from 2013, which was a record year for solar, installing about 4.4 GW in the U.S.
SunPower (tickerSPWR ) and First Solar (FSLR ) are driving solar energy production growth and SolarCity (SCTY ) is growing the residential space rapidly.
Of course, renewable energy from wind and solar is still only about 3.2% of total electricity produced but you can see that the trajectory for renewable energy is only moving higher.
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