First published in the Quoted Cleantech newsletter, July 2011. Copyright Cleantech Investor 2011  

We’ve added two new indices this quarter, the NASDAQ OMX Clean Edge Global Wind Energy Index and the Nasdaq OMX Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure Index. These two were the top performers over the first half of 2011 - with the Smart Grid Infrastructure Index ranking as the only index on the list to have chalked up a gain over the six month period (of 3.6%). It was also the best performer over the second quarter of the year - despite losing 6.3%. The index includes stocks such as General Electric, Siemens and utilities such as National Grid PLC and General Cable, which contributed to a less volatile performance than some of the indices with a heavy bias towards younger renewable energy companies.

The Global Wind Energy Index  lost 1.8% over the first six months of 2011 - but still managed to rank as the second best performer over that period. The performance was achieved despite a fall of 15.2% in the second quarter of the year. Solar suffered an even worse performance than wind during the second quarter, with the Ardour Solar Energy Index losing 21.4% - compared to a fall of 4.2% over the first half of the year. Worst performer over the six months was the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, which was down 13.4%. Over the second quarter period the Renewable Energy Industrial Index was the worst performer, dropping 22.2%.