Avangrid: Cramer’s Top Takeaways

For an “Executive Decision” segment, Cramer sat down with James Torgerson, CEO of Avangrid , the wind-power utility which just posted a three-cents-a-share earnings beat. Shares of Avangrid are up 10% for the year with a 4% dividend yield.

Saudi Aramco’s Green Energy Push Seen Widening Appeal of IPO

Aramco is the world’s largest oil company, but when it sells shares next year its foray into renewables is what may lure investors who would otherwise be forced to stay away. Saudi Arabian Oil Co., as it is formally called, is considering investments of as much as $5 billion in renewable energy, part of the kingdom’s effort to reduce the amount of oil feeding domestic energy needs.

Jobs Take Center Stage of Climate-Change Debate in Trump Era

As the Trump administration sets to work gutting environmental regulations, the best weapon for battling climate change in the U.S. may be jobs. Many Republicans, including the president, have been unmoved by environmental or scientific arguments that federal policies should support clean energy as a way to combat global warming.

Solar Energy Production Hit a Record High in 2016, So What’s Wrong With Solar Stocks?

GTM Research recently reported that its upcoming U.S. Solar Market Insight Report done with the Solar Energy Industries Association will reveal a 95% jump in installations last year to 14.6 GW. To put that number into perspective, that’s enough solar to power 2.4 million homes in the U.S. On top of the huge installation numbers, solar accounted for 39% of all new electricity installed in 2016, a record for the industry.

3 Stocks We Like More Than Kinder Morgan Inc.

Travis Hoium : Kinder Morgan is supposed to be a cash-flow machine for investors, acting as a toll collector on thousands of miles of oil and gas pipelines. At the end of the day, the company should be judged by its cash flow and dividend — which is no longer a great value at a 2.2% dividend yield.

This Week in Solar

We’re still a few weeks away from investors getting a peek into fourth-quarter earnings in the solar industry and what management has to say about 2017. In the meantime, we’re seeing interesting trends in some of the industry’s most important markets and from its most visible companies.

High end survival

Larry Hall leads the way out of the elevator and into an apartment, one of several in a new development that he has recently built. The space is elegantly furnished.

Saudi Aramco Said to Weigh Up to $5 Billion Renewable Deals

Saudi Aramco , the world’s largest oil company, is considering as much as $5 billion of investments in renewable energy firms as part of plans to diversify from crude production, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Credit Suisse Group AG have been invited to pitch for a role helping Aramco identify potential acquisition targets and advising on deals, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.

This Week in Solar

In 2011, then Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy Steven Chu launched the SunShot initiative with a goal of cutting the cost of installing a utility-scale solar system for $1 per watt by 2020. At the time, I called the 74% reduction in the cost of solar in a decade ” an audacious goal .”

Apple Agrees to Buy Solar Power From Buffett’s Nevada Utility

Apple Inc. agreed to buy the output from a proposed 200-megawatt solar farm in Nevada to help power a data center in Reno. NV Energy Inc., a Las Vegas-based utility owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co., plans to seek approval for the power-purchase agreement from the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, according to a statement Wednesday.

India as Solar Bright Spot Helps Fill Japan, China Slowdown

India may be a bright spot for global solar markets this year as it adds capacity at a record pace, becoming one of the top regions for panel producers struggling with rock-bottom prices. India is expected to add nearly twice as much new solar as last year, outpacing once-booming Japan, according to forecasts by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Protection sought for New Mexico park’s geothermal deposits

Underground pockets of boiling water and steam in a northern New Mexico national preserve that represent the heart of an ancient collapsed volcano could get extra federal protection under a new effort by the National Park Service aimed at limiting or preventing tapping the geothermal energy from neighboring land. Federal officials said last week that the Valles Caldera National Preserve would become the 17th U.S. park unit with designated thermal features if approved.

This Week in Solar

As the year comes to a close, it’s fitting that the week in solar was dominated by the kind of large, macro trends that seem to move and shake the solar industry every few months. But unlike 2015, when we had Nevada upend net metering in the final hours of the year, most of the news from the solar industry is positive at the end of 2016.

Icahn Sees Doubts About Ethanol Mandate Among Trump’s Advisers

Billionaire Carl Icahn, a special adviser to Donald Trump and a skeptic of the U.S. ethanol mandate, said there are others on the president-elect’s team who have even deeper criticisms of the program. Icahn repeated criticism of the credit trading program that regulators and refiners use to track compliance with federal biofuel consumption quotas.

China to Cut Solar, Wind Power Prices as Project Costs Fall

China is reducing the amount of money it pays to newly completed solar and wind power generators for their electricity, in order to reflect declines in construction costs, the country’s price regulator and economic planner said Monday. The nation will cut tariffs paid to solar farms by as much as 19 percent in 2017 from this year’s levels, and by as much as 15 percent for wind mills in 2018 from current prices, according to a statement posted on the National Development and Reform Commission’s website.

This Week in Solar

The end of the year is usually quiet for most businesses, but for the solar industry it can be a time of big changes. Legislation and regulatory changes are often pushed through just before the end of the year, which has had a huge impact on the solar industry in years past.