10 Emerging Energy Technologies You Can Invest In Today
In this article, we take a look at some of the expected highlights of the next energy revolution. You can skip our detailed discussion of the energy market and go directly to 5 emerging energy technologies you can invest in today.
Innovation in energy has changed the way companies offer sustainable products and services. These innovative energy segments include Concentrated Solar Energy, Carbon Storage, Nuclear Fusion, Smart Electricity Grids, Hydrogen Technologies, Energy Storage, Innovative Heat Pumps, Energy Efficiency, and so on. Those might sound confusing and niche words but in this article you will find clear explanations that will help you to catch up on energy technology advances. We will also mention the most innovative energy companies and related stocks which you can consider for investments.
Energy remains one of the biggest areas of investments worldwide. As the world moves away from fossil fuels, the renewable energy market is taking off. Data shows that the renewable energy market is expected to be valued at $1,512.3 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 6.1% from 2018 to 2025. In 2019, the energy research and development budget for the US is estimated at $8 billion. Moreover, the US accounted for 33% of the total R&D budget amongst the Internal Energy Agency Members (IEA). The Biden administration's push for innovation in the energy markets will fuel the transformation towards renewable energy worldwide.
Even though some companies had to cut their research budgets due to the pandemic, it is widely believed that the energy sector will witness a big jump in the near future.
Let's start our list of 10 emerging energy technologies you can invest in today.
10. Hydrogen Technologies
Some call it the new oil, some call it the blue energy. As the number of green energy researches and projects is skyrocketing around the world, hydrogen energy will change the world through decarbonizing a range of sectors. This clean energy carrier can be produced from any energy source such as coal, gas, and by-products besides renewable sources. Hydrogen generation from renewable sources is based on electrolysis which is the process of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
However, hydrogen production from conventional resources causes greenhouse gases which is the main reason for climate change. Thankfully, advances in capturing CO2 have eased some of those concerns about conventional hydrogen production.
Nevertheless, there are some drawbacks that have to be tackled. Hydrogen energy faces challenges in terms of supply logistics and production upscaling. In addition, production from renewable sources is still costly.
When it comes to hydrogen energy, cost is the key concern for companies. Hydrogen production costs 3 - 7.5 USD/kg from renewable sources while 0.9 - 3.2 USD/kg from natural gas, according to the IEA hydrogen report 2018. Fortunately, the costs of producing hydrogen from renewable electricity are falling rapidly. According to IRENA, it is expected that the cost of producing hydrogen from renewables might be 0.9-1.2 USD/kg from wind and 1.1 - 2.5 USD/kg from solar until 2050. US, Saudi Arabia, Australia plan to take advantage of solar energy to produce green hydrogen in addition to hydropower for Norway.
The demand for hydrogen is increasing in the industry. The demand saw a significant rise to 74 Mt in 2018 from 52 Mt in 2000, a 43% rise.
Another area of use is power generation. Hydrogen may be one of the leading options for storing renewable energy.
There are several hydrogen companies you can invest in to ride the wave of green energy. Here is the list of companies with some useful information about their business and stock performance.
- Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP)
Ballard Power Systems Inc. is a developer and manufacturer of proton exchange membrane fuel cell products for markets such as heavy-duty motive, portable power, material handling as well as engineering services. Ballard has designed and shipped over 400 MW of fuel cell products to date.
The stock is up by 216% over the last 12 months.
- Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE)
Bloom Energy is based in San Jose, California. It manufactures and markets solid oxide fuel cells that produce electricity on-site. Bloom Energy will supply 1.8 megawatts of hydrogen-powered fuel cells through a multi-stage deployment from late 2021 into 2022 in Korea.
The stock is up over 277% over the last 12 months.
- FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL)
FuelCell Energy, Inc. is a fuel cell power company. It designs, manufactures, operates and services fuel cell solutions.
The stock is up by 819% over the last 3 months.
- Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ: PLUG)
Plug Power is a New York based company that provides clean hydrogen and zero emission fuel cell solutions and batteries.
The stock is up over 1329% over the last 12 months.
-Cummins Inc (NYSE: CMI)
Cummins sells one of the 10 emerging energy technologies you can invest in today. It is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, filtration, and power generation products. Under the new power segment, the company focuses on new and emerging alternative power technologies.
Over the last 12 months, CMI has gained about 46%.
- Air Products (NYSE: APD)
The company develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates industrial gas projects, including gasification projects that sustainably convert abundant natural resources into syngas for the production of high-value power, fuels and chemicals.
The stock is up by 1.7% over the last 12 months,
Overall, it is clear that companies whose main focus is hydrogen technology made investors happier.
9. Smart Electricity Grids
Smart grid is one of the 10 emerging energy technologies you can invest in today. The grid refers to network transmission lines and their stations from the power plant to your houses or business. What makes a grid smart is that the technology provides two-way communication from the utility to its customers. Smart grid controls and measures electric demand and allows automation to work together with the whole system.
There are several benefits of smart grid systems to business and customers such as efficient transmission, reduced peak demand, increased integration of large-scale renewable energy systems and better integration of customer-owned renewable energy systems.
Nowadays, there are some applications that allow EV car owners to sell electricity to the grid during high electricity price cycles. The role of distributed energy resources(DERs) is also increasing. DERs include small and large solar generation facilities, combined heat and power facilities, and energy storage systems.
Even though grid companies are now facing some challenges, they invest a great deal of money in smart grid systems and this inevitably pushes the energy sector higher. Some smart grid companies include:
- Eaton Corporation (NYSE: ETN)
Eaton Corporation is an American Irish-domiciled multinational power management company that focuses on the electric grid. With $21.4 billion sales in 2019, the business provides electrical power distribution and control equipment, truck drivetrain systems, engine components, and a wide variety of controls.
The stock is up over 19% over the last 12 months.
- Enphase Energy (NASDAQ: ENPH)
Enphase Energy is a US-based large-cap global company that energy technology company and supplier of solar microinverters besides smart energy systems.
the stock is up 400% over the last 12 months.
- Quanta Services Inc (NYSE: PWR)
Quanta Services is an American corporation that provides fully integrated infrastructure solutions for the utility, pipeline, energy, and communications industries. One of the business areas is electric power and its distribution including transmission.
The stock is up 92% over the last 12 months.
- SolarEdge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: SEDG)
SolarEdge Technologies makes one of the 10 emerging energy technologies you can invest in today. It provides power optimizers, solar inverters, and monitoring systems for photovoltaic arrays besides grid services.
The stock is up over 197% over the last 12 months
8. Energy Storage
Energy storage market is thriving globally. The battery technology remains at the focus of this industry.
In order to compensate for energy imbalances, electricity storage devices manage the amount of power required to supply customers at peak load times. Additionally, these storage devices help make renewable energy smooth by controlling the grid system.
Lithium-ion technology continues to be most widely used. But more importantly, the EV sector dominates the sector as EV batteries are ten times greater than grid-scale batteries.
Some top energy storage companies include:
- Eos Energy Enterprises (NASDAQ: EOSE)
Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. designs, manufactures and deploys battery storage solutions for utility, commercial and industrial, and renewable energy markets in the United States. The company’s main focus is on aqueous zinc battery in which was designed to overcome the limitations of conventional lithium-ion technology.
The stock is up about 192.4% over the last 12 months
- Sunnova Energy International Inc (NYSE: NOVA)
Sunnova Energy International Inc is a US-based large-cap company that provides residential solar and energy storage services, with customers across the US and its territories. With home solar systems, battery storage, roof replacement, monitoring, maintenance, and financing options, the company has more than 100k customers.
The company has a compound YoY revenue growth rate of 27%.
- China BAK Battery (NASDAQ: CBAT)
CBAK Energy Technology is a high-tech enterprise based in Mainland China that is engaged in the R&D, manufacture, and sales of high-power lithium batteries.
CBAT stock is up 891.3% over the last 12 months.
- Flux Power Holdings (NASDAQ: FLUX)
Flux Power, Inc., designs, develops, manufactures, and sells rechargeable lithium-ion energy storage systems for electric forklifts, airport ground support equipment, and other industrial motive applications in the United States.
The stock is up 96.4% annually over the last 12 months.
7. Innovative Heat Pumps
Heat pump technology and systems cannot be classified as new technologies but can be considered as the future of heating and cooling systems for residential and commercial projects. The heat pump market is likely to see a significant rise in coming years as the EU is looking for technologies to rapidly increase electrification and decarbonization. According to IEA, nearly 20 million households purchased heat pumps in 2019 worldwide. The market’s average annual growth rate has seen a 12% increase since 2015 in Europe.
6. Solar CSP
The solar boom got a lot of attention worldwide, but apparently the solar technology did not come up to the expectations amid rising costs and declining efficiencies.
This technology, which is one of the 10 emerging energy technologies you can invest in today, uses a bunch of mirror configurations to concentrate the sunlight energy onto a receiver and convert it to heat. By using the heat, steam is produced, and either a turbine produces electricity or industrial process heat is obtained. The difficulty is having a limit to reach the desired temperature with current exchange fluids. In case it achieves the 1000 degrees Celsius levels with some new technologies, the sector will thrive. It is expected that CSP will see an upward trend through lower installation costs, attractive financing. It is expected that this energy technology capacity could reach up to 9.2 GW through 2025.
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Disclosure: None. 10 Emerging Energy Technologies You Can Invest In Today is originally published on Insider Monkey.