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Bloomberg
If you ever needed convincing there’s money to be made investing in renewable energy companies, just look at the best performer this year on Europe’s main utilities index.
As a torrid year for global markets draws to a close, Verbund AG almost tripled in value in 2018 and is beating all of its 27 peers to the top spot on the STOXX 600 Utilities Index.
The Austrian utility has to a large extent built its business on a simple but very profitable strategy: Buy cheap electricity in the night, use it to pump water up the Alps, and release it through turbines during the day when prices are higher.
Other winners include Orsted A/S, which in just a few years has transformed itself from Denmark’s national oil and gas behemoth into a nimble publicly-traded company specialising in erecting giant wind turbines offshore. Fossil-free power producers Electricite de France SA and Finland’s Fortum Oyj also advanced, gaining 30 percent and 15 percent respectively.
Part of the reason why these companies have done so well is that they don’t have to pay for European emission permits, a security whose 204 percent rally this year beat all other major commodities.