Wind…

Most of us don’t give it a second thought.

But over the last decade, wind power has moved from science project to mainstream.

Wind is now the most formidable energy resource of the 21st century.

Denmark gets 41% of its electricity from it. Ireland harnesses 28% of its power from wind farms. Taken as a whole, the European Union generates 14% of its electricity from wind.

Here in the U.S., we’ve just started to tap into the massive potential of our wind resources. That’s why now is the time to invest.

Right now, just 6.6% of our power is generated from wind. But that percentage is only going to increase as new farms come online.

On U.S. soil, available wind resources could power the needs of the entire country nine times over. And offshore wind has the potential to produce twice the current power needs of the entire country.

Today, a number of U.S. offshore wind farms are in the planning stages. Nearly every East Coast state from Virginia northward is on board.

And it’s going to accelerate a lot faster than most investors think it will.

Big Oil Goes Big on Wind

A little over a year ago, Norway’s largest oil company – and one of the largest in the world – changed its name.

As a public nod to the direction of the world’s energy production, Statoil ASA became Equinor ASA (NYSE: EQNR).

In other words, oil and coal are out… and renewables are in.

Through this announcement, Equinor’s management acknowledged that the world’s energy systems are going through a huge disruption. The transitions we are seeing today in energy generation, use and storage are the largest since the beginning of the electrical era.

And now Equinor is one of the stakeholders in what will be the largest wind farm in the world.

The Dogger Bank Wind Farms projects are a joint venture between Equinor and SSE Renewables.

There will be three separate wind projects initially. Each one will generate 1.2 gigawatts of energy.

When all three projects are up and running, Dogger Bank Wind Farms will provide enough electricity to power 4.5 million homes. And it will equal 5% of the U.K.’s total power generation.

Additionally, the world’s largest wind farm will use the world’s most powerful wind turbine.

GE’s Haliade-X wind turbine is a monster. It generates a massive 12 megawatts.

The tower alone soars more than 400 feet high. The blades are 350 feet long and sweep an area as big as seven football fields.

In this case, bigger is definitely better. The Haliade-X’s capacity factor is about 63%.

(The capacity factor measures actual power produced relative to the maximum power produced. Maximum power would be the turbine operating constantly at full power.)

That’s more than twice what the first-generation turbines could manage back in 2013. And it’s also more than any coal-powered generating station in the U.S. can handle.

In today’s market, there are plenty of choices when it comes to investing in wind and other renewables. Electric vehicle and battery manufacturers, solar panel manufacturers, utilities, wind farm operators… you name it.

So you can bet that renewables investing is going to be one of the hottest sectors of the next decade and beyond.

Good investing,

Dave