Friday, September 5, 2008

Wind, Sun Are New Frontiers For Maker Of Electrical Infrastructure (PWR)

From Investor's Business Daily:

Texas, of course, is the prime source of oil in the U.S. But anyone who's been out on the Texas prairie knows that it has another abundant energy source: wind.

Over the last two years, the Texas government has been working to develop 7,000 megawatts of new wind-power capacity in the state. On July 17, lawmakers took a crucial step by creating Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) to build transmission lines carrying the new energy to end users.

That got analysts following Quanta Services (PWR) excited. Houston-based Quanta is the country's biggest builder of electrical infrastructure.

"We're talking about a project worth $5 billion," said Sanjay Shrestha, an analyst at Lazard Capital. "Given Quanta's strong presence, it's in a position to earn a significant chunk of that."

Since CREZ is new and the government runs slow, a deal has yet to be announced. But in an interview with IBD, Quanta Chief Executive John Colson sounded confident that his firm could handle such a project....MORE