ITS ALWAYS WINDY SOMEWHERE

The only problem there is with wind energy is how much installation of facilities remains to be done. Compared to the problems there are with coal and nuclear, the wind problem only means it is time to get as busy as FPL is putting up turbines.

Companies that rely on renewables may need to hedge their bets
Lauren Tara Lacapra, July 31, 2007 (AP via Yahoo Finance)

WHO
FPL Group Inc. (Moray Dewhurst, CFO and Steven Stengel, spokesman), Thomson Financial

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WHAT
Due to the least amenable weather conditions in 13 years, FPL’s wind-eneergy division cut $50 million from its quarterly profits. In response, the company will hugely expand its investment in wind energy. With oil/gas prices skyrocketing and incentives for renewables and a cap-and-trade system coming, FPL considers wind a good investment.

WHEN
FPL will add 8-10,000 megawatts of wind energy to iets portfolio by 2012.

WHERE
The company will diversify its wind holdings geographically. Currently in 15 states from California to Kansas to Pennsylvania, most of its wind is Texas.

WHY
- FPL’s energy porfolio is 30% wind, 50% natural gas.and also holds nuclear, solar and hydroelectric.
- 3 Critical Issues: (1) Renewal after 2008 of Production Tax Credit. (2) Control of rising materials and labor costs in wind. (3) Finding the right locations for windfarms.

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QUOTES
- Dewhurst: "The only real negative in the quarter was the poor wind resource…"
- Stengel: "If it's not blowing in one part of the country, on average, it's going to be blowing somewhere else…"
- Angie Storozynski, HSBC Global Research analyst: "That's a factor that is basic and (it's) unpredictable…Wind blows or it doesn't."