The monthly Renewables MMI® registered a value of 57 in August, a decrease of 1.7% from 58 in July. Like many other metals that we track, this is an all-time low.
Unlike some of the other metals we track, though, fundamentals haven’t really changed that much for silicon, cobalt cathodes and most of the renewable metals we track. The fact that the index fell only 1.7% — a pittance when compared to the steep drops of other indexes — it shows this is a low created by ongoing tepid demand and the bearish environment affecting all commodities.
The Steady, Slow Fall of Renewables
The slow fall of renewables may have more to do with the continually falling commodity prices of oil, liquid natural gas and other competing energy products. Uncertainty over the possibility of Iranian oil hitting the global market is only making crude potentially more competitive with solar panels, wind turbines and other renewable energy investments, too.
We have long lamented the subsidized nature of renewable energy investments in the developed world and how those subsidies disconnect infrastructure investment costs from actual payback in the form of lower energy prices, but that’s something that won’t change anytime soon or help renewable energy inputs in the short term. Sorry, Milton, but prices will be just one part of the renewable energy information puzzle for the foreseeable future. We wish it wasn’t so, but it’s the reality. There is, however, no reason why they shouldn’t be a bigger part of that equation.
Subsidies Distort Payback Picture
If renewable energy investments were judged by how much solar panels on your house or, say, wind farms for a utility company, would cost to install and how long it would take lower energy bill prices to pay back those installation costs, we would likely see more US adoption and fewer poor investments in low-wind or solar areas. As it is, though, government incentives artificially distort those costs and create high-adoption areas, such as California, where there are incentives and high adoption and no incentives and low adoption, thanks to low oil and LNG prices, in places without the natural advantages.
Prices for renewable inputs such as silicon are fairly stagnant in high-adoption countries such as Germany, too. The bearish commodity environment has hit low demand sectors as hard as the higher demand ones.
The Renewables MMI® collects and weights 8 metal price points used extensively within the renewable energy industry to provide a unique view into renewable energy metal price trends over a 30-day period. For more information on the Renewables MMI®, how it’s calculated or how your company can use the index, please drop us a note at: info (at) agmetalminer (dot) com.
by Jeff Yoders