Background: 1. I am an investor, not much of a day/intraday/swing trader these days. I search out great growth companies that I can understand. I like exceptional leadership. BASM 2. Years ago as I had interest in 3-D printing. I "said to myself" this is an area that could see exceptional growth. I looked into the sector for all of a couple hours, gave up on it likely distracted by the ebb and flow of crap. Help now: I have a sense that the power industry in the US is dated. Things need to be upgraded. Solar is growing. Local utilities will likely play a larger role in distributed power, a catch all phrase. NPR radio program on this: http://sciencefriday.com/segment/07/04/2014/how-new-rules-and-smart-tech-are-reinventing-the-grid.html I'd like some help to better understand the future of power in the US. Perhaps get tied into some industry publications? But what are they? Set up a google news feed to check each day? How to learn about the young upstarts? ET, any ideas how to learn more about these and other similar concepts? Thanks
Here are some resources I use. The govt sites are good to learn about energy use and policy. Of the second group, I glance at Green Tech and Renewable Energy World most days and I'll probably subscribe to the Roen newsletter (it's not expensive and there's a free trial). You can also search one of the ETF databases for renewable energy funds and then look at the holdings for single-name candidates or consider the fund itself. One example is TAN for the solar industry (they're so clever). Caution: solar stocks have had a huge run up from their near death experience in 2011 and 2012. As an FYI, you'll probably have more luck searching when using "distributed generation" rather than "distributed power." Solar panels and SolarCity (because of Elon Musk) get a lot of press, but don't ignore inverters or the companies that sell efficiency enhancements. Dept of Energy (DOE) and Energy Information Administration (EIA) web sites DOE SunShot program DOE National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) Cool chart: https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/ http://www.ren21.net/ Black helicopter alert (UN program) GreenTech Media Renewable Energy World Bloomberg New Energy Finance PV-Tech.org NPD SolarBuzz SolarIndustyMag.com Harris Roen newsletter
Also look into "frequency regulation". As the grid becomes increasingly powered more by renewables such as solar and wind, which are inherently less "steady" in their generation, it leads to more fluctuations in power quality, frequency, etc. These fluctuations must be mitigated, which means distributed energy storage capable of sourcing and sinking power.