Launched in July, there is a welcome of a “Pure Play” Wind Energy ETF. The ETF, named PowerShares Global Wind Energy Portfolio (Nasdaq: PWND), is based on the NASDAQ OMX Clean Edge Global Wind Energy Index. This index is comprised of companies related to the use, development, manufacturing or distribution of wind energy. Don’t expect a bunch of small cap or bulletin board stocks to comprise this ETF, Its major holdings include the major players in wind power. As indicated by the table below, the vast majority of its holdings are in major global wind companies such as Vestas and Gamesa. Many of these currently trade on foreign exchanges so this type of ETF definitely improves accessibility for the average American investor. As expected, many of the smaller volatile plays such as NCEN, WWEI and APWR are excluded for now.

The ETF justed launched in July, so there is not much history on performance of the ETF. The underlying index in which it is tracking however (NASDAQ OMX Clean Edge® Global Wind Energy Index), has been around longer and we can see that we are within 5% of the 52 week low of $22.46 which appears to be a solid buying opportunity. Unlike some other wind plays, we don’t expect this ETF to have the potential to be a 2-3 bagger, but could exhibit solid and steady growth over the next few years and wind energy becomes more prominent on the average investor’s horizon.