The World’s Largest Generator of Solar and Wind Power

We’re always blown away by what suddenly makes people want to start investing. Just look at how many people ask us every day how they can “buy marijuana stocks”. It usually starts with some 60-minute segment on an exciting emerging technology after which people start doing Google searches to see how they can buy stocks in said technology. This is kind of how we’re feeling about solar right now given the unprecedented growth of solar in the United States in 2016. The difference in our case is that we have been invested in solar for the past 5 years and our returns have just plain sucked. Here is the 5-year chart for the Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEARCA:TAN) which lost -34% over that time frame:

How can this be possible with the incredible growth of solar in the United States? If only investing in solar companies was as straightforward as an investment in… the sun. The sun has an impressive track record of consistency, with a clear vision and satisfyingly predictable patterns of production. Obviously, and unfortunately, the growth of solar energy depends on a lot more than just the steady, stable sun. The reason why this ETF has under-performed is a topic for a future article, but what we’re going to talk about today is a utility stock that happen