Business

Two Stocks That Play Pivotal Roles In America’s Infrastructure

Published

5 years ago

June 21, 2021

Rolling blackouts, freezing homes, and skyrocketing electricity prices. Back in February, Texas’ primary electric grid suffered a one-two punch wrought by the deep freeze and off-the-charts demand for power as power plants struggled to keep up with heating demand. Power outages such as the Texas one are not only becoming much more frequent compared to the situation two decades ago but are also increasing in severity mainly due to climate stresses and a power grid that’s increasingly unable to hold up. The Texas blackouts marked the third time the electric system failed to perform adequately in winter in recent years (1989, 2011, and 2021).
The devastating blackouts once again brought into sharp focus the fact that the United States is relying on an aging electrical grid that’s increasingly unstable, underfunded, and incapable of taking us to a new energy future. Despite being the wealthiest country in the world, the U.S. only ranks 13th in the quality of its infrastructure.
Indeed, our power grid is the weakest link in the ongoing energy transition.
Last year, a new study from UC Berkeley and GridLab found that it will be economically feasible for renewable energy to power 90% of a reliable grid by 2035, while only depending on natural gas for 10% of annual electricity production.
Unfortunately, whereas renewable power sources have grown dramatically in recent years, our aging electrical grid is simply incapable of fully integrating them into our energy use, leading to so much potential power wasted.
Yet, therein lies a great investment opportunity.
A Wood Mackenzie analysis has estimated the cost of shifting the U.S. power grid to 100% renewable energy over the next 10 years at a staggering $4.5 trillion. That runs the gamut from constructing and operating new generation facilities, investing in transmission and distribution infrastructure, making capacity payments, delivering customer-facing grid edge technology, and more.
President Biden’s 10-year, $2 trillion American Jobs Plan seeks to re-energize the power grid, upgrade roads, bridges, and water systems and help make U.S. infrastructure more resilient to the impacts of climate change.
But that amount will hardly be enough to go the distance, and private investors will have to step up to the plate. Modernizing the power grid alone will require $300 billion per year spread out over 15 years, or double the current annual spending of $150 billion.
That’s why investing in companies working hard to build the next-generation grid could pay off big dividends for long-term investors.
Here are our top picks, with good dividend growth opportunities serving as a safety net.
Next Era Energy Inc. NEE (-1.74%) is a Florida-based clean energy company and America’s largest electric utility holding company by market cap. NEE (-1.74%) is the world’s largest producer of wind and solar energy, with more than 50,000 megawatts of generating capacity. Next Era Energy is one of the largest utilities in the country, with two electric utilities in Florida. The company owns eight subsidiaries, with the largest, Next Era Energy Services, supplying 5 million homes in Florida with electricity. Next Era Energy Transmission integrates renewable energy and strengthens the electricity grid.
Next Era is quickly establishing itself as a leader in building next-generation grids designed to handle increased loads from renewable energy.
NextEra has been building its grid business both organically through development projects as well as inorganically through acquisitions. For example, earlier this year, NextEra acquired GridLiance for $660 million, adding 700 miles of high-voltage transmission lines across six states. Last year, NEE (-1.74%) won regulatory approval to build a new transmission line in Western New York that will ease grid congestion and facilitate the delivery of renewable energy from the region.
During the company’s latest earnings call, management reiterated its 30×30 goal to install more than 30 million solar panels, or roughly 10,000 megawatts of incremental solar capacity, in Florida by 2030 through one of its subsidiaries, Florida Power & Light (FPL).
Another of NEE (-1.74%)’s subsidiaries, Next Era Energy Partners LP(NYSE: NEP), is publicly listed and pays a 3.4% dividend one of the highest in the industry. NEP acquires, manages, and owns contracted clean energy projects with a preference for businesses with stable, long-term cash flows. NextEra Energy Partners owns interests in dozens of wind and solar projects in the United States, as well as natural gas infrastructure assets in Texas. These contracted projects use leading-edge technology to generate energy from the wind and the sun. The company’s management is shooting for 12-15% dividend growth through 2024, making this an ideal stock for income investors.
Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy Inc. XEL (-2.56%) is a leading electricity and natural gas utility serving 3.6 million customers in Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico.
Xcel boasts nearly 9,000MW in operating capacity for its wind projects and another 1,600MW for solar. The company has increased solar generation by more than 4x since 2011 and plans to grow its wind generation capacity by 50% over the next couple of years.
Like NextEra, Xcel Energy operates one of the biggest and fastest-growing investor-owned transmission systems with more than 20,000 miles of transmission lines across 10 states.
Xcel has a goal to invest $24.3 billion through 2025 to expand its operations, with 25% of that earmarked to expand its transmission business to help support increased renewable energy deployment. One of the company’s top projects is the proposed Colorado Pathway Transmission expansion that will see the company invest up to $1.7 billion to build 560 miles of new transmission lines to support 5.5 gigawatts of new renewable power generation.
As part of the company’s own investment thesis, Xcel shoots for consistent shareholder returns based on 5-7% annual EPS growth and similar dividend growth with a 60-70% payout ratio. The company aims to maintain a 3% dividend yield, meaning there’s room for improvement on the current yield of 2.63%.
Kimani writes for Oilprice.com

By: Alex Kimani

Business

Boat Mishap Kills Pastor, Wife And Church Members In Brass Water

Published

1 day ago

May 18, 2026

The Tide

A boat accident in Bayelsa state has killed a serving Pastor, Wife and other church members along Brass waterways

The sad incident happened at Odioama in Brass local government area of Bayelsa State when the Pastor, wife and members of his church were in a programme.

?Tide confirmed that the lifeless body of the Pastor’s wife has been found and deposited in a mortuary while the remains of her husband ,the Pastor is yet to be recovered

as search party are still ongoing.

Although the real cause of the boat Mishap is not yet known as at the time of this report, our Correspondent gathered that the identities of the Pastor, wife and church members were not disclosed to the public.

The mishap, Tide gathered occurred on Friday morning when the church members were on a boat transit

The Bayelsa State government and the state police command are yet to issue official statement’s on the sad accident

By: CHINEDU WOSU

Business

Rivers Workers Seek Scrapping Of Contributory Pension Scheme

Published

1 day ago

May 18, 2026

The Tide

The Rivers State Council of Nigeria Civil Service Union has called on the State Government to urgently scrap the contributory pension scheme, describing it as unfavourable to long-serving civil servants in the state.

Chairman of the union, Chukwuka Osuma, said this in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt, recently.

Osuma said the current pension structure has continued to worsen post-retirement hardship for workers.

He noted that the contributory pension scheme had failed to provide adequate retirement security for workers who had spent many years in service, especially those approaching retirement age.

According to him, civil servants who had served for more than 20 years were among the worst affected under the scheme, insisting that many retirees could no longer cope with prevailing economic realities.

He also informed that the Union has made moves to showcase their concerns, pleading with Governor Siminalayi Fubara to abolish the pension policy and introduce a more favourable arrangement for affected workers.

“The union was not opposed to pension reforms, the contributory scheme should only apply to newly employed workers or those with fewer years in service”, he said.

Osuma explained that workers who had already spent decades in the civil service ought to remain under a more secure pension structure capable of guaranteeing stability after retirement.

The labour leader further noted that inflation and the rising cost of living had continued to erode the value of retirement savings, thereby increasing the suffering of pensioners across the country.

He also appealed to the state government to consider extending the years of service in the civil service from 35 to 40 years and the retirement age from 60 to 65 years.

Osuma argued that such adjustment had become necessary in view of present-day economic realities and changing conditions in the workplace.

The unionist also reviewed that similar policies had already been adopted in some sectors and jurisdictions, expressing optimism that the State could also implement the reforms for the benefit of workers.

He however, commended Governor Fubara for approving an N85,000 minimum wage for workers in the state, noting that the amount was above the national benchmark of N70,000.

Osuma also acknowledged the government’s efforts in the area of workers’ promotions and bonuses, but insisted that pension reforms and extension of years of service remained critical to the long-term welfare and stability of civil servants in Rivers State.

By: King Onunwor

Business

FG Begins South-West Tour To Promote New Cooperative Bank

Published

6 days ago

May 13, 2026

The Tide

The Federal Government has launched the South-West zonal engagement and ministerial advocacy tour on the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria share capital mobilisation, sensitisation and cooperative sector digitalisation.

Reports say the initiative was launched through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

According to reports, the advocacy tour, organised by the ministry’s Federal Department of Cooperatives, began on Monday in Lagos.

Speaking at the event, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Dr Aliyu Abdullahi, said the initiative was part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

Abdullahi described the exercise as a strategic effort to reposition the cooperative sector as a key driver of inclusive economic growth, financial inclusion, enterprise development, food security and national prosperity.

“Today represents a defining moment in our collective determination to reposition the cooperative sector as a major driver of inclusive economic growth, financial inclusion, enterprise development, food security and national prosperity,” he said.

The minister noted the modern cooperative movement in Nigeria originated in the South-West following the 1934 Strickland Report, which led to the enactment of the Cooperative Societies Ordinance of 1935.

According to him, the decision to commence the sensitisation and share capital mobilisation tour in the region is symbolic, as it marks a return to the roots of cooperative development in the country.

Abdullahi said the advocacy tour was a direct outcome of resolutions reached at the 8th Regular Meeting of the National Council on Cooperative Affairs held in Abuja in March 2026.

He said the council approved the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme, a comprehensive framework designed to strengthen the cooperative sector and align it with the administration’s goal of building a one-trillion-dollar economy.

“The reform programme focuses on seven strategic pillars, including governance reforms, cooperative financing and the establishment of the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria, digitalisation, capacity building, value chain development, inclusion of youths, women and persons with disabilities, and strategic partnerships,” he said.

He said the establishment of the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria and the digitalisation of the cooperative sector were the two major transformational initiatives under the programme.

“The Cooperative Bank of Nigeria is aimed at rebuilding a strong cooperative financial system capable of supporting cooperators, farmers, artisans, traders, SMEs, youths, women and persons with disabilities with accessible and affordable financial services,” he said.

Abdullahi emphasised that the proposed bank would be government-enabled but not government-funded.

“Government is not establishing the bank as an owner, nor will it rely on Treasury Single Account funds.

“The role of government through the FMAFS is to provide policy support, stakeholder coordination, regulatory facilitation and an enabling environment under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme,” he said.

Also speaking, the Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, Mrs Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, reaffirmed the state government’s commitment to cooperative sector transformation.

She described cooperatives as critical tools for promoting inclusive growth, grassroots productivity, food security, financial inclusion and community wealth creation.

Ambrose-Medebem said Lagos State would continue to support reforms and collaborate with stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (2025–2030).

“Together, let us build a cooperative ecosystem that is modern, transparent, digitally enabled, financially inclusive and globally competitive.

“Let us build cooperatives that not only mobilise savings, but also mobilise prosperity,” she said.