Shifting Political and Economic Winds - Canadian Hydro

Last week (July 11) I wrote about Boralex, after news it was granted rights to build wind farms in Windsor and Essex County in southwestern Ontario. Another company in the alternative energy sector from Canada, and even more established than Boralex, is Canadian Hydro. This stock has fallen over the last several months after a nice run-up, due presumably to construction delays in its second phase at Melancthon, located northwest of Toronto. This actually provides a nice buying opportunity.

I have to give credit to the Globe and Mail for this story:

"The 18-year-old company, based in Calgary, owns a portfolio of 12 hydro-electric generating stations, five wind farms, and a biomass plant, all situated in British Columbia, Alberta or Ontario.

The company also has a big pipeline of new projects set to come on stream in the coming months and years, and that has made it a growth play with a stock chart to match -- at least until a couple of months ago."

According to CEO, John Keating, the company expects to begin building two new hydro electric power projects in British Columbia, as well as resuming work in Ontario, in the next few months.

"Come this fall we fully expect to be under construction both in B.C. and Ontario, and I'd anticipate that should help the stock."

Check out Canadian Hydro on Google Finance

Alternative energy plays are all about growth, and this company has room to do just that.

Need more proof that alternative energy is a big thing for the future? Well, to quote another Globe article, "when executives from the world's largest oil companies say we need to cut back on our consumption, it should serve as the ultimate wake-up call about a looming energy crunch." These are not peak-oil evangelists sounding the alarm, but rather, a committee of the National Petroleum Council, which was chaired by former Exxon chairman Lee Raymond and included Chevron chairman and chief executive officer David O'Reilly.

And now to quote my own blog entry from July 16, "all signs point towards massive oil prices and political will to move away from fossil fuels…" Well, in that blog entry I was talking about nuclear energy, but the future bodes well for all alternative energy, and Canadian Hydro will benefit from the shifting political and economic winds in favour of wind energy, biomass and good-old hydro-electric power (thanks Mr. Nikola Tesla - true visionary).

DISCLOSURE: I do not own shares in Canadian Hydro, nor do I smoke hydro, despite apparent signs such as periodic lapses in reason and incoherent ramblings – (it just comes natural to me). Always do your homework before buying a stock.