ASX renewable energy shares have been a much-discussed area of interest over the past few months (and years, to be fair). After all, 2020 was a pretty good year for the sector. On top of that, interest has picked up in recent weeks on the back of significant talk of a renewables-focused infrastructure package over in the United States. Such a package has indeed been proposed by the Biden administration, although we will have to see how it looks if it ever gets out of a closely divided US congress.
So, how have ASX renewables shares been tracking recently?
Quite well, as it turns out.
Take Tilt Renewables Ltd (ASX: TLT). Tilt is a power generation company that owns a portfolio of wind and solar farms across Australia and New Zealand. It has been a consistent winner for investors, adding nearly 90% to its share price in 2020. And another 31% in 2021 so far. Tilt was in the news last week after receiving an NZ$8 per share acquisition offer from a Canadian pension fund called CDPQ. That follows the takeover offer last month from AGL Energy Limited (ASX: AGL) and Mercury NZ Ltd (ASX: MCY).
ASX renewable energy shares continue to excite
Speaking of Mercury NZ, we have another ASX renewable energy share that has performed rather well over the past year, although not so well more recently. Just this week, in fact, we got a quarterly update from Mercury. The company announced that its hydro-electrical generation was up 8.5% over the quarter, although its forecasts for the full year reminded unchanged. Investors weren't too impressed though, judging by the flat share price that day.
ClearVue Technologies Ltd (ASX: CPV) has been another recent performer. As my Fool colleague reported last week, investors seem to have linked ClearVue with the Biden infrastructure plan. This company develops glass that can function effectively like a solar panel. ClearVue is up more than 500% over the past year, so it definitely has a lot of support out there.
Another ASX renewables company that isn't fairing so well though is Meridian Energy Ltd (ASX: MEZ). Meridian rose almost 100% in value between September last year and January this year. But the past few months have been proportionally unkind. Meridian has lost close to 40% of its value since 8 January. Investors weren't too impressed with an update that month which saw the company report a fall in electricity demand. Meridian has also been suffering more recently from institutional investment outflows as well.
I think we can all agree that ASX renewables shares have a birth future. So it will be interesting to see how these companies perform in the weeks, months and year ahead.
