“These aren’t simple solutions, nor will they be easy to implement. There will be plenty of setbacks, complications, and conflicts of interest along the way. But we either rise to the challenge or go the way of the dinosaur. It’s our choice. The vise is closing.”

This bit of wisdom from the desk of Walt McLaughlin, a blogger at Burlington Free Press.
The vice is indeed closing, and around the world you see a lot of inspiring calls to action, and even a lot of honest to goodness action. On the subject of alternative energy, news stories abound….

What’s a bit dumbfounding then are headlines like this: “P.E.I. cancels alternative energy program.”

Although the program in question was miniscule - a $5,000 loan for renewable energy materials - it’s a troubling fact, considering that it underscores the fact that governments everywhere hold the green power sector by the balls.

In California, of course, hardly a megawatt of dirty, coal-produced power has been generated since February last year when the state enacted legislation limiting the amount of greenhouse gasses that its energy suppliers can emit. That effectively banned coal-derived power from the picture.

So is California a sign of future, or is P.E.I.?

Unwilling to wait for PEI and other North American jurisdictions to get their loaves together, Western Wind (OTC: WNDEF, TSXV: WND) has put all its eggs in the California basket, and to good effect judging from the company’s performance of late.

This Vancouver-based wind farm developer is definitely in outperform mode, with a whopping 39 cent jump on May 21 following news of a sweet purchase offer, which the company has - it seems - rejected.

There’s much to know about on this company, and if you’re interested, just email me and I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction, but here’s the nutshell version:

“Western Wind is North America’s largest publicly traded non-income trust producer of pure wind energy. Western Wind Energy has the capacity to produce 34.5 MW of clean renewable electrical energy from over 500 wind turbine generators located in Tehachapi (Windridge) and San Gorgonio Pass (Palm Springs), California with annualized energy output capacity of approximately 70 billion watt hours per year.

“Western Wind also has over 145 MW of expansion power sales agreements with the associated projects in the late stages of development. In addition, Western Wind Energy has a credible pipeline of over 1,300 MW of site locations in the State of California. During the past two years, Western Wind Energy has executed or acquired over $1 billion of power sales agreements totaling 154 megawatts from the sale of wind energy electrical generation.”

It’s up to you which numbers you want to go with here, but what’s clear to me is that the company has 1K plus MW in the pipeline worth as much as $2 million each. If you’ve been following other companies in the renewable sector like we do, you’ll know that California is the place to be and that wind is the reigning king of renewable energy at the moment.

Also, from my discussions with the company, their looking at adding solar to the mix, to increase the capacitance of the turbines, which is one of the drawbacks of most renewables.

Trading at three dollars and thirty-something is an affront to this company’s true value, IMHO. Based on peer comparisons and the nature of the game in California, they’ll be north of $5 before long. I’ve said similar of companies like Naikun (TSX: NKW) and Plutonic (TSX: PCC). And I was correct in both cases!