.Seeing that mat of WECs makes me wonder if you couldn't put floating buildings out on top. Probably not.
I think that there are a few posters feeling the pinch on their portfolio from the recent downturn, but you need to stop watching the SP and be ready to settle in for the long haul. I've happily picked up a parcel of shares in the dip, I'm not expecting much from them for a few years - the projections for wave energy is "by 2050". SHE is a nest egg to be sat on until it starts giving dividends.
The downturn was based off of a disappointing yet expected shareholder report which was not exactly surprising, given uranium prices.
People have been talking about the RoR for the buouys; I'm not sure if this applies directly to the sales model they seem to be leaning towards.
This is not just SHE building a plant and selling the power - an island such Maldives has a vested interest in moving away from a heavily subsidised diesel plant.
A quick bit of research reveals a report which says that, as of 2010, 83% of power in Maldives is from diesel generators and that the fuel import bill is 16% of GDP, equivalent to US$ 0.24 billion.
That is a lot of capital, and if I was them I would be more than happy to pay someone like SHE to build a plant and let them sell the power at a regulated price in order to stop paying that. One assumes that SHE would be paying for maintenance and any supplementary generation costs from downtime out if their own pocket.
Additionally Maldives is part of the Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries Program (SREP) which has required and helped to fund an estimated US $139 million renewable energy plan. This plan is can be easily found on
www.environment.gov.mv
That is a big pie to grab a slice of and SHE has worked out what CWE took 6 iterations to see: wave energy needs to be modular and scalable without a big land based plant. I worry that 1.5kw is a bit small, especially next to the MW CETO 6 buouys but if they can mass produce them at a good price then it makes some sense. CETO 6 also needs deeper water and bigger waves than Protean.
As I've said before, SHE and CWE are not direct competitors. I see it as SHE being to CWE what Toyota is to, say, Volvo trucks. Related yet different and able to coexist.
SHE is aiming to be affordable with a plant that lets you buy in with low risk and expand as they gain trust. CWE has shot straight for the top end of the market and is happy to sit researching at a loss for as long as it takes in order to build on the biggest scale they can get away with. They are aimed at different markets.
I think the distinctions in techs for wave energy solutions won't count for as much as price point and demonstrated capabilities. Whoever gets their foot in the door first will have a big advantage.
I think SHE has a bumpy year or two ahead but will reward in the long run, same as CWE, and I'm happy to wait.
(20min delay)