"Around the globe, wind-generating capacity has been expanding at a rapid 30% clip in recent years," notes value investor Nathan Slaughter, who adds, "And 2008 is already shaping up to be even better."

The editor of Half-Priced Stocks looks at industrial product firm Trinity Industries (NYSE: TRN), explaining, "The company's most promising division is involved in the production of structural wind towers." Here's the advisor's of the latest addition to his "deep-discount' model portfolio.

"Led by states such as Texas and California, wind farms around the country will generate almost 50 billion kilowatt hours of electricity this year. Of course, the U.S. is still playing catch-up with many other regions.

"In fact, countries such as Spain, Portugal and Denmark all rely on wind farms for as much as one-quarter of their total power needs. Across Europe, wind turbines will account for roughly one-third of all new generating capacity installed over the next few years and could provide electricity for 90 million people by 2010.

"The outlook is even brighter in many booming, energy-hungry Asian markets. In China, installed wind power capacity surged +130% last year and will reportedly supply a great deal of the electricity needed for the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

"Thanks to the great strides in engineering, wind turbine output has increased by a factor of ten (or higher in some cases) over the past decade.

"Wind power is a source of energy that is renewable, clean, has a low operating cost and is a technology that's been around for over century," says Ian Cooper.

The small-cap stock specialist and editor of the SC Trading Pit explains, "That's why we're adding a position in First Trust ISE Global Wind Energy ETF (NYSE: FAN), which lets you own 52 wind stocks at once."

"The nice thing about this ETF is that many of the holdings are non-US companies, meaning they're not reliant on news of green energy tax credits. But with the rest of the world investing in wind, we're given wider profit exposure. This is a great way to hold 50 up and coming stocks at $30 a pop.

"As oil prices stay high, the wind power and alternative energy themes are becoming increasingly popular, making the latest exchange-traded fund even more enticing.

"Just recently, the much-anticipated First Trust ISE Global Wind Energy ETF was launched. And not only will investors have an opportunity to profit from companies in the wind energy business, they can profit from companies that will soon enter the space.

"To say that alternative energies are critical is a severe understatement." asserts Stephen Leeb, who looks at three plays in the sector that earn a spot in his Growth Portfolio.

The editor of The Complete Investor explains, "Readily scalable energy sources such as solar and wind account for under 1%. It's time to get serious."

Three of the stocks he has selected are holdings in his model Growth Portfolio: FPL Group (NYSE: FPL), Exelon (NYSE: EXC), and General Electric (NYSE: GE). Here's a trio of favorites.

"We have focused on those alternative energy stocks with the strongest growth profiles. None is a pie in the sky fantasy; all provide energy in the here and now and have significant and fast-growing revenue streams.

"The fact that their growth should continue to burgeon is one of the most heartening pieces of news on the energy front. We could argue that investing in these stocks not only will be good for your portfolio but is an act of patriotism as well.

USA Today reports that oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens is placing a $2 billion bet on wind power. Pickens' Mesa Power plans to build the Pampa Wind Project in the Texas Panhandle. It will eventually cover 400,000 acres and generate enough power for more than 1.3 million homes -- making it the largest wind farm in the world.

And Pickens is helping General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) in the bargain. That's because he's buying GE turbine technology. GE is expected to deliver 667, 1.5-megawatt wind turbines in 2010 and 2011. Jeffrey Immelt, GE Chairman and CEO said, "As America's demand for energy escalates, it is clear that wind can and will play a bigger part in meeting that need. We're excited to partner with an energy visionary like T. Boone Pickens to bring our wind technology to the marketplace."

With oil hitting $127 a barrel, I hope this project is the first of many. It will take many different sources of alternative energy to reduce U.S. demand for black gold. Wind power is certainly a good alternative. And if Pickens and GE get richer in the process, that's fine by me.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns GE shares.

"Alternatives may not be an important source of electricity, but they are the fastest-growing subsector in the energy space," says energy sector expert Elliott Gue in Personal Finance. Here, he looks at wind power.

"The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that wind power will grow by more than 7%, encouraged by generous government subsidies. Compare that to just 1.5% annualized projected growth in total electricity demand.

"The world's largest wind turbine producer, Vestas Wind Systems (OTC: VWSYF), fell on hard times back in 2005. It priced some of its turbines too aggressively and saw a surge in warranty claims because of defective components.

"But the stock appears back on track. Warranty provisions are down to 5% of revenues. Profit margins surged 4 percentage points year-over-year because of more rational turbine pricing. Vestas' current backlog stands at EUR4.1 billion (US $6.03 billion), up more than 30% year-over-year.

If you're a regular reader, I'm sure you already know from earlier blogs that I'm a fan of smart investments in green stocks. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is not only the third-largest U.S. bank, it also has a $1 billion portfolio of wind energy investments. Its 26 wind farm investments, included in the portfolio, have enough juice to power an average of 600,000 U.S. homes.

I feel that wind power is a terrific investment if done in an intelligent way, but this is not the only way that JPM impresses me. JP Morgan wants to be a bank with everything -- with retail banking, investment banking, asset management, and credit card divisions all under one roof. To that end, recently JP Morgan integrated with Bank of New York, where I was a customer. I always say seeing is believing. Bank of New York was suffering from poor performance before JP Morgan stepped in, and already, I see signs of improvement. JPM is also dedicated to controlling expenses at these branches, which will help its retail division.

Even more, I'm a big fan of JP Morgan's innovative and strong-minded CEO, Jaime Dimon, who took the helm of JPM in 2006, coming from Bank One. Particularly strong first quarter results showed a 55% net improvement over the same results last year (though, to be fair, I should mention that in part this was due to a new accounting rule adding a one time gain of $391 million). The investment bank division is going gangbusters while retail banking and card services are showing flat growth, but I think this is about to change.

Acquisitions made in the past will continue to eat at profits, but under Dimon, the bank has set specific goals in each division to smartly cut costs and drive profits. I think we're going to see JP Morgan make solid gains in the coming years.

Type of stock: The third largest bank in the U.S., I think JP Morgan has great potential under Jaime Dimon, its CEO since 2006. JPM has been careful not to overextend itself in this period of economic prosperity, a prudent move in these rapidly changing economic times.

Price target: Currently trading at $49.82, I think this is one of the few financial institutions that it is a good buy
right now. We should see JPM hit $65, maybe even by year's end.

Hilary Kramer is a financial editor and money coach for AOL and an authority on investing. Visit her at www.hilarykramer.com

GE will fund a wind farming project in Hawaii under its unit GE Energy Financial Services. GE maintains that renewable energy is an essential component of the "world energy mix." I stumbled across GE's in-house Global Research blog. According to a post written early this year, the company claimed that since obtaining "Enron's wind turbine assets in 2002, GE has presided over significant growth in this business." Around the same time, the independently-run EnergyBlog noted that "wind energy costs drop below conventional sources in some markets."

Ge will supply 14 of its 1.5-MW wind turbines which will be place at the south tip of the big island. Project managers estimate the farm will produce energy equivalent to power 10,000 homes.

Interested in investing in wind power? Whether it's because you see that the demand is forecast to double within 3 years for wind turbines, or because you're trying to encourage more wind use for personal reasons, how can you go about this?

Kevin Kelleher of The Street points out that it's tough for US investors to find companies that are all about wind power to make the investment. He names some companies you can invest in, but includes GE as one way you could invest in wind power.

1.5% of GE's income last year was through wind power sales. That's $1 billion in sales, hardly a drop in the bucket. Kelleher's other choices are sketchy at best, with US Wind Farming not making any revenue, and Western Wind Energy being in legal trouble.

GE offers the odd benefit of being able to invest in a blue chip company, stable with paying dividends, as well as investing in the future of alternative energy sector that GE is driving and trying to grow. A stock pick for both conscience and safe stock play? That's got to be attractive to some types of investors. Furthermore, GE is clearly a leader in this technology and market, so if you're interested in wind power, a look closer a GE is worth it.

[pic via: kevinzim]

GE closed today at $34.22, down 44 cents. Again, many suspect this is thanks to interest rate worries. Meanwhile GE's Ecomagination reeled in a positive result for the company: GE announced today several wind turbine sales to LA and Hawaii.

GE Energy sold 80 turbines to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and in the right, gusty conditions, they're all capable of pumping out 1.5 megawatts of power each They'll be installed near Mojave, 110 miles north of LA. The Hawaii deal is not as big, with only 14 of these wind turbines sold, but that still makes almost 100 wind turbines added to the board for GE's Energy division. Not a bad day for renewable energy.

Investors clearly liked what they heard from General Electric executives today. The company held a series of investor presentations in New York City that included presentations by the head of GE's infrastructure division, who forecast that sales in China (already $5 billion), would at least double by 2008. GE execs said the company planned to increase spending on research and development and explained how GE benefits from higher energy prices (it gets companies to spend more on energy-conserving industrial equipment).

GE also announced today a new contract with the University of California to study how more sources of renewable energy (like wind power) affect the state's power grid.

 The stock closed at $34.80, an increase of 40 cents, or 1.15%. For GE, that's a darn good day.