Canada, a nation long-overshadowed by its mighty southern neighbour can look forward to some very good years ahead. That Canada has enormous amounts of natural resources that the rest of the world wants; uranium, oil, minerals etc. is  widely known and underscored by the Canadian Dollar reaching parity with the greenback late last year. Much less appreciated though is Canada's quiet but no less significant expansion into alternative energy.

Today's article in Renewable Energy Access "A Snapshot of Canadian Green Power 2007/2008" ought to be a wakeup call to the investment world.  The truth is however that Canada's Stock Exchanges have long been successful in attracting quite a few listings by alternative energy companies both from Canada and abroad. So I've decided to list them all here, in no particular order;

Canadian Firms listing in Canada

VRB Power Systems
Xantrex Technology
Sustainable Energy Technologies
Boralex
Dynetek Industries
Western Geopower
Plutonic Power
Carmanah Solar Technologies
Western Wind Energy
Run of River Power
Canadian Hydro Developers

Canadian Companies listed outside of Canada

Ballard Power Systems
Canadian Solar Inc

Foreign Firms listed on Canadian Exchanges

Nevada Geothermal
Finavera Renewables

Have I missed any out? Please email me if you know some that should be included and I will load them up on AEI.

For Hydro and Wind power potential, it doesn't really get any better than Canada. Vast tracts of largely unpopulated land and water and a relatively low cost of doing business. There has to be a strong bullish case for Canada and its currency over the next decade. And no question, a niche worth watching has to be Canadian alternative energy firms.