Many are using the internet and searching for green clean energy plays to invest in for the long term and profit appreciation given the rising costs of oil and the demand for clean power by the world. With oil prices rising and demand for clean power to the world, there are certain green investments that I feel are the cream of the crop for the long term.

Wind, Geothermal, and Solar are the green choices, which are better investments???? Price of installation, return on investment, and fuel costs are the key ingredients in which investment for energy to make for the future. Solar is great during the day but about 10 million installation costs per megawatt of power. Coal is the cheapest power source but the carbon tax coming is sure to cease new coal plants and new dollar investments. Geothermal is as cheap as coal and is ”base load” power being able to be used 24/7 and around 95% power producing . The initial costs for geothermal is twice that of coal per megawatt but there is NO fuel costs to produce power down the road. Wind is clean and green and about 2 million per megawatt to build and with no fuel costs, a very good return given the production tax credits of most countries.

Which companies to invest in for the future one may ask???
Vestas is a pure play 800#gorilla in wind power and on a growth track to race GE for the top wind power producing company in the world. APWR is my China player to address the wind side of the China equation which could take pages and pages or research but the bottom line is CHINA is going to deploy MORE WIND POWER in the next 12 years than the entire world added together.

ORA is the best pure play geothermal and is profitable and on a growth track to dominate the geothermal sector over time. My pure player in geothermal is Nevada Geothermal, a small aggressive Canadian company on a pure play geothermal growth trajectory poised for 49mw’ of green power in late October 2009 with power and revenues to help refinance the existing loans. Nevada Geothermal has the potential to be a grand slam investment over time and expansion for the green investor.

Solar is the multi billion dollar wild card with expansion in every area and prices dropping faster than one can imagine as price per kilowatt drops, investment picks up. I personally dont like the business model of solars but that will probably be my loss over time . First Solar is the 800# gorilla in solar and price per kilowatt beats all competitors hands down. Others to watch over time are SunPower, STP, LDK, ROL, and many, many others to numerous to mention. Maybe a better way to invest in SOLAR is an ETF that includes all solars, a mutual fund of solars TAN.

Disclosure”"” LONG APWR, LONG NGLPF.ob

China plans 440-bln dlr stimulus for green energy
China is planning a stimulus package worth 440 billion dollars to expand its renewable energy use, state media said, as the country aims to rely more on cleaner ways to power its growth. The three trillion yuan (439.7 billion dollars) investment will see part of the focus on wind power, the Beijing Morning Post said, citing Liang Zhipeng, a State Energy Administration official. The government has collected opinions from local economic planning agencies and relevant companies about a draft plan, Liang said, according to the report. Under the plan, China’s wind power capacity will reach over 100 gigawatts by 2020, the report said, more than triple a goal of 30 gigawatts announced in 2007 in a renewable energy development plan. Zhou Xi’an, a director general at the State Energy Administration, said last week China aimed to boost the share of renewable energy, excluding hydro power, to six percent of its overall energy use by 2020, from the current 1.5 percent. He said the new plan would be submitted to the State Council, or Cabinet, for approval, with a result expected soon. The news about the latest stimulus plan came after China announced measures to support autos, petrochemicals and eight other sectors as part of a 584-billion-dollar package unveiled in November to tackle the financial crisis. One of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters alongside the United States, China now depends on coal for nearly 70 percent of its total energy consumption. The country has also set a goal to cut energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent and pollution by 10 percent by 2010 from levels in 2005

the mother of all storage ideas might have been discovered……….
In a surprising find, scientists have discovered a microbe that can efficiently convert direct electrical current into methane.

That may be good news for wind and solar power enthusiasts, who have long been faced with the dilemma of how to store energy when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. This discovery opens the door for generating methane from those renewable power sources; the energy could then be stored as fuel for later use.

But is storing renewable energy in the form of a greenhouse gas like methane a solution, or just another problem?

The remarkable microbe, Methanobacterium palustre, is the first to be found which can biochemically synthesize methane using electrons directly from current in combination with hydrogen gas. Most significantly, it appears to transform the energy at 80% efficiency. That’s pretty darn good, according to researchers.

Before this discovery, the options were limited regarding how to store energy generated from wind or solar sources. Storing it in large capacitors and batteries offered the most practical solution, since converting the energy into a fuel like hydrogen made it difficult to compress and store. But that problem doesn’t exist for methane, which is the main component for natural gas. Natural gas is already carried around the world in pipelines, and it’s used in conventional engines.

Though despite the good news, utilizing this process may overlook some of the bigger reasons for switching to renewable energy. Specifically, if the primary benefit for using wind and solar energy is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, then wouldn’t converting that energy into methane miss the point?

Yes and no. Methane is a very clean burning fuel, and compared to other hydrocarbons, burning methane produces less carbon dioxide for each unit of heat released. In other words, if the choice is between storing excess wind or solar energy as methane or having to use traditional, dirtier fuels like gas or coal to pick up the leftover energy burden, then converting clean energy into methane- while perhaps not the ideal solution- is still a significant step forward.

More research needs to be conducted to determine the exact molecular mechanism of the biochemical process, and practical means for employing the technology have yet to be worked out. But the exciting discovery does shed some creative light on the potential for renewable sources to supply all of our energy needs.

With the surging oil prices and expected higher energy prices coming, common sense dictates higher stock prices for alternative energy prices as cap and trade policies approach Washington DC through congress and Obama.

Last summer, all alternative energy plays were around 50% higher with oil at $150 per barrel. As China uses more oil, ie 50,000 new cars coming online per day in China alone, the demand for oil will increase and the demand for energy will increase as the economies around the world chase China in the demand supply race for goods and services.

China stimulus package kicks in very soon with China going to spend 12 million on alternative energy per hour for the next 2 years 24/7 on green energy. All solars , winds, and geothermals green today as power surged in demand for the race to make green power down the road. China needs 100,000MW’s of wind power by 2020 so all China wind stocks are going to go up in price over time. Vestas, GE, Sinovel, Gamesa, and Goldwind to accumulate market share over time.

APWR must start delivering on their road to revenues with wind power. The time is now to deliver and the time to ramp is now in wind power. The Shenyang Power alliance could land contracts all over China if APWR would get their revenues flowing with wind power sales/production. First quarter earnings going to be weak due to no wind revenues and minus 20 temps in DPG during China cold winter months . Potential revenues down the road are limitless only stopped by APWR in failure to deliver wind turbines through the production process.

Short term resistance could be spiked in price by DPG or Biomass wins and the Shenyang Power Alliance has yet to announce a contract or deal. Upside is $19 end of 2009 by my calculations, ACCUMULATE at will is my suggestion over time!

Al Gore announces to world that China will spend 12 million per hour for 2 years 24/7 and MOST solars and wind stocks were creamed today in the stock market. Solars, Wind, everything crushed including APWR and Nevada Geothermal and natural gas all down 10% or more……it was UGLY today!

taken from Al Gore’s blog……..12 million an hour for next 2 years on GREEN ENERGY

“China’s leaders are investing $12.6 million every hour to green their economy… This massive stimulus plan will spend over 3 percent of China’s 2008 gross domestic product annually in 2009 and 2010 on green investments-more than six times America’s green stimulus spending as a percentage of our respective economies. This is about $12.6 million every hour over the next two years.”

APWR down 12% today, could this be the bargain pricing you been waiting for???

borrowed from the Yahoo board on NGLPF.ob……..
NGP indicated that the Blue Mountain Plant, which is rated at 49.5 MW (gross) and 40.1 MW (net) will have sale of approximately US $530 million over 20 years. See news release dated November 24, 2008

My average sales price per kwh, is based on the (net) value of 40.1 MW (or 81% capacity) for Blue Mountain.

kwh produced over 20 yrs
40,100 x 24 x 365 x 20 = 7,025,520,000 kwh

Sales price per kwh
530,000,000/7,025,520,000 = $0.0754 per kwh, (net capacity)

The Production Tax Credit (PTC) is set to continue for 10 years at $21 per MW, or $0.021 per kwh. PTC can be taken in other ways. See NGP News Letter of Sun Mar 1, 2009. I assume, they take $0.021 per kwh (PTC) directly thru production.

Value per kwh production.
0.0754 + 0.021 = $0.0964 per kwh produced,

The US $180 million dollar loan at 14% over 15 years is based on funds used, plus fees.

Estimate how much of the $180 million will be spent to build the Blue Mountain Project.

Estimate of various costs
Plant Construction to Ormat (fixed price) $76.0 million fixed (see NGP Newsletter of Oct 2008 )
Production wells $15.0 million (Possible that earlier share issue of May 16, 2008 paid for some of this)
Payback of the Glitnir Bank Loan of $20.0 million
The 21 mile 120kV wood pole transmission line $4.5 million
Up front fee of 2.0%, plus director fee of 0.5%, basis $180 million $4.5 million

this is the reason I am heavily INVESTED in $$ APWR for the long run. Once APWR gets their wind division cranking, 2010 is going to be the growth year for APWR in Wind Turbine sales to the Chinese government!

June 2 (Bloomberg) — China, the world’s second-biggest energy consumer, will invest about 100 billion yuan ($14.6 billion) to more than double its wind power capacity by 2010 from last year, a government official said.

The country’s wind power capacity will rise to 30,000 megawatts from 12,000 megawatts, Shi Lishan, deputy director of renewable energy at the National Energy Administration, said in Rudong city in the eastern province of Jiangsu today. China’s wind power capacity was the fourth-largest in the world last year, according to Shi.

Investment in alternative energy may exceed 2 trillion yuan by 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, said in 2007. Wind power is “vital” as it is the cheapest form of renewable energy, Shi said. About 80 percent of the country’s power is produced from coal.

“The on-grid price for wind power is about 0.5 to 0.6 yuan per kilowatt-hour compared with about 0.2 to 0.4 yuan per kilowatt-hour for coal,” Shi told reporters.

China Longyuan Electric Power Group, which accounts for about a quarter of the nation’s wind-power capacity, plans to boost capacity to 6,000 megawatts by next year and to 20,000 megawatts by 2020, Vice President Huang Qun told reporters.

Longyuan, the renewable-energy unit of China Guodian Corp., one of the country’s five state power producers, was capable of generating 2,630 megawatts of electricity using wind turbines last year, he said.

Huang was accompanying a delegation of media, industry and government representatives on a tour of the 100-megawatt Rudong wind farm operated by Longyuan.

Government Spending

The government has allocated 210 billion yuan for energy- saving and carbon-reduction projects under its 4 trillion-yuan economic stimulus package, the planning commission said in May.

China is separately drafting a long-term plan to develop renewable energy to replace coal and oil with cleaner-burning fuels. Details will be released “soon,” Han Wenke, head of energy research at the commission, said last month.

The stimulus plan will accelerate the upgrading of power grids, Shi said today. There will be no new preferential policies for wind power projects, he said.

The Asian nation became the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels in 2006, followed by the U.S., Russia, India and Japan, according to U.S. Department of Energy data on Bloomberg.

Private Investment

China Resources Power Holdings Co., the third-biggest Hong Kong-listed mainland electricity supplier by market value, said today it received government approval for two wind projects in Gansu and Guangdong provinces totaling 221 megawatts in capacity.

It will cost about 8,000 yuan to add 1 kilowatt of wind capacity in China, about 30 to 50 percent less expensive than in Europe, Shi said.

“It normally takes 10 years for local developers to see returns on their investments in wind farms,” Chen Tao, an adviser at China Energy Conservation Wind Power Investment Co., said by mobile phone from Beijing.

The world’s third-largest economy will increase its wind power capacity by fivefold to 100,000 megawatts by 2020 from at least 20,000 megawatts next year to help fight climate change, Zhang Guobao, director of the energy administration, said May 26.

About five megawatts is sufficient to power about 1,000 households in China on average, Hu Zhaoguang, vice president of the State Power Economic Research Institute, said by telephone from Beijing today.

China could pass Europe, Japan and the U.S. to become the world’s biggest renewable energy consumer by 2010, Washington- based researcher WorldWatch Institute said in November 2007.

June 2 (Bloomberg) — China, the world’s second-biggest energy consumer, will spend about 100 billion yuan ($14.6 billion) to more than double its wind power capacity by 2010 from last year, a government official said.

The country’s wind power capacity will rise to 30,000 megawatts from 12,000 megawatts, Shi Lishan, deputy director of the renewable energy department at the National Energy Administration, said in Rudong city in Jiangsu province today. China produces about 80 percent of its power from coal.

Investment in alternative energy may exceed 2 trillion yuan by 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planner, said in 2007. Wind power is “vital” as it is the cheapest form of alternative energy relative to conventional sources, Shi told reporters today.

“The on-grid price for wind power is about 0.5 to 0.6 yuan per kilowatt-hour compared with about 0.2 to 0.4 yuan per kilowatt-hour for coal,” Shi said.

China Resources Power Holdings Co., the third-largest Hong Kong-listed mainland electricity supplier by market value, said today it received government approval for two wind farm projects in Gansu and Guangdong provinces totaling 221 megawatts in capacity.

“It will cost about 8,000 yuan to add 1 kilowatt of wind capacity in China, about 30 to 50 percent less expensive than in Europe,” Shi said.

Capacity Expansion

The world’s third-largest economy will increase its wind power capacity by fivefold to 100,000 megawatts by 2020 from at least 20,000 megawatts next year to help fight climate change, Zhang Guobao, director of the energy administration, said on May 26. China’s wind power capacity was the fourth-biggest among nations last year, Shi said today.

About five megawatts is sufficient to power about 1,000 households in China on average, Hu Zhaoguang, vice president of the State Power Economic Research Institute, said by telephone from Beijing today.

The Asian nation became the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels in 2006, followed by the U.S., Russia, India and Japan, according to U.S. Department of Energy data on Bloomberg.

China could pass Europe, Japan and the U.S. to become the world’s biggest renewable energy consumer by 2010, Washington- based researcher WorldWatch Institute said in November 2007.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Liu in Shanghai at jliu42@bloomberg.net

((this race to expand China Wind is why I am long $APWR)))

simply amazing what happens when some of the big boys discover and broadcast what you already know:::
As it grows, the country will need to grow more food, and from our own
history, we know this will be easy; simply replace small, inefficient
family farms with bigger more efficient mechanized farms.

As it grows, the country will need more houses, more roads, and more cars,
and I’m confident these, too, will all be built.

And then there’s energy, where a confluence of factors means huge changes
will occur in the decades ahead, not just in China but all over the
world.

Oil will become more expensive, partly because the vessel (Earth) from
which we’ve been extracting it over the past century has a finite supply,
and partly because of regulations designed to reduce pollution and
greenhouse gases.

Yet demand for power will continue to grow, particularly in China and
India, where hundreds of millions of people are striving to achieve a
middle-class lifestyle complete with electricity, running water,
television and more.

The result will be huge demand for alternative fuel sources, like wind,
solar and biofuels.

So, it’s entirely possible–even likely–that one of the small,
fast-growing companies in these industries today will follow the growth
trajectory of Standard Oil in the early 20th Century … and eventually
resemble the giant that is ExxonMobil today.

Solar stocks had a great run in 2007, and some of them are looking strong
again. I like First Solar (FSLR) a lot; it remains the low-cost solar
cell producer and the production volume leader … and its revenues in the
first quarter of 2009 were up 112% over the previous year.

But today I want to focus on wind and biofuels, partly because these
stocks have not had a big run yet, and thus have better potential.

The most attractive company in these areas is A-Power Energy Generation
Systems (APWR), a Chinese company that brought in $265 million in 2008, up
from $153 million in 2007. (That’s 74% revenue growth during the worst
global economy in 70 years.) The bulk of the company’s revenues to date
have come from designing and installing distributed generation power
systems; it’s built 14 so far. In essence, these are standalone power
plants that are off the government grid. They might burn coal or oil or
natural gas, and they are more efficient than grid-connected systems
because they’re designed to serve specific local needs … and
transmission losses are minimal.

In a way, I see the growth of the distributed generation movement as a
parallel to the growth of the cellular phone business in the developing
world. While economies that matured in the 20th century built
communications networks dependent on wires, economies blooming now can
bypass the communications wires. As the distributed power generation
grows, more and more of these communities will be able to bypass the wires
of the power grid, as well.

And now A-Power is moving fast into the wind and biofuels business, in
effect using its expertise in distributed power to design and build the
world’s most advanced, large-scale independent power systems.

In 2008, A-Power began building a turbine manufacturing plant in Shenyang
and it’s already looking at building a second plant in inner Mongolia to
support government plans for wind farms there. The company has 30 firm
orders for 2.7 MW turbines and expects to ship its first wind turbine this
month.