Clean Energy Surging Around the World in the Wake of Republican’s Midterm Collapse

Shutterstock / Futurism The repudiation of the Republican agenda on display in the US midterms is already having ripple effects throughout the world market. When it comes to green energy — which has suffered under the Trump White House’s supply-chain restrictions, subsidy repeals, and de-facto prohibition on federal climate-change research — the impact of the November election results was immediate euphoria, a sign that the industry expects a revival under the upcoming Democratic machine. Renewable energy stocks soared across Asia and Europe on Wednesday as investors scrambled to get in on what they assume will be a return to a favorable regulatory regime in the US, which will have massive consequences for the world market. Shares for the Danish wind-farm developer Orsted, for example, had shot up by around six percent at the time of writing. As OilPrice.com observes, Orsted is the world’s biggest developer of offshore wind projects — a flashing green sign from global energy investors. In South Korea, stocks associated with solar power and battery production pulled ahead on the election news, even as AI chip stocks crumbled. For example, Hanwha Solutions Corp, a major player in both the global- and US-solar trade, was up over 18.5 percent on the day, at least temporarily stopping a months-long tumble. Back in the US, stocks for the largest solar panel manufacturer in the Western hemisphere First Solar exploded, shooting up 8.1 in premarket trading and rising 9.5 percent as of midday Wednesday (and that’s despite some weak sales guidance and the inherent regulatory uncertainty that comes with US midterms.) NextEra Energy, the world’s largest electrical utility holding company by market cap was also in the green, up about 3.8 percent on the day. The big caveat here will be around Donald Trump’s tariffs on renewable energy supply chains. Though Chinese manufacturing has unleashed cheap photovoltaics on the global market at a simply unprecedented scale, the US market remains largely insulated by crushing import duties imposed by the Republican party. Whether that tariff regime holds will be one of the key indicators to watch as Democrats take control of the US legislature in January — but for now, investors are clearly feeling the buzz. More on renewable energy: Brutal NIMBY Regulations Are Crushing the Kind of Solar Farms Researchers Say Are a Godsend for Local Ecology