In "Clean Energy Trends 2007," the Clean Edge authors cite "a number of developments [that] put clean energy definitively on the map over the past year."

One of those developments, they said, was "significant corporate investments in clean energy acquisitions."

Of course, we and our readers know that better than anyone.

Over two years ago, in May of 2006, Jeff had the following to say about a tiny desalination company:

In fact, one company I've been following for awhile, Zenon Environmental, Inc. (ZEN.TO) is the perfect example of just how lucrative this segment is.

Zenon is a leader in drinking water treatment, wastewater treatment, process water treatment and water recycling.

As these smaller, publicly-traded water conservation and water recycling companies continue to grow and land more and more contracts. . . behemoths like GE will continue to swallow them up...allowing those who get in early to exploit these acquisitions for profits.

You may not know the Zenon story. But the company was sold to GE for a 55% premium on its share price at the time. The stock soared 53% overnight. And those who were in earlier made significantly more than that.

Another example of shareholders taking advantage of the sale of a company occurred one year ago, almost to the day.

At the time, I was covering a company called Cambridge Display, an organic photovoltaic spin-off company that originated at Cambridge University. It was trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol OLED.

On July 30^th 2007, the company announced its sale to Sumitomo Chemical Company, for a 107% premium on the current share price. Needless to say, shareholders made at least that much on the next trading day. More if they were in earlier.

Take a look:

An Atmosphere of Green Mergers and Acquisitions

It couldn't be any easier to convey how ripe the current market environment is for corporate green mergers and acquisitions.

According to Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008, put out by the highly respected New Energy Finance, "Corporate M&A surged forward, more than doubling from $3.5 billion in Q1 2007 to $7.7 billion in Q1 2008."

And the total dollar amount for green M&A surged to $25.7 billion in 2007, a full 52% higher than the $16.9 billion that changed hands in 2006.

Also according to that report:

• Wind led M&A activity as supply chain shortages drove consolidation amongst component manufacturers, while offshore wind projects saw increased interest. Wind assets are gradually being transferred from developers to utilities.

• Energy Efficiency M&A was also strong with $4 billion changing hands boosted by a few large deals.

• Biofuels M&A was driven by industry turmoil, which shook out weaker players, as well as by the rising cost of building new plants, leading developers to acquire existing ones.

• The U.S. and Europe dominated M&A activity, while Brazilian biofuels became a focus for non-OECD transactions.

• In 2008, M&A increased in Q! As the credit crunch sparked market consolidation

Just take a look at how M&A has increased over the past seven years:

Don't you think it's about time you got a piece of this action?

Getting a Piece of Green Mergers & Acquisitions

Last year, the number of green merger and acquisition deals totaled 237, 52 more than the 185 in 2006.

And that number is only going to grow over the next few years.

You see, the current climate of green energy markets is one that's perfect for M&A on many fronts.

First of all, these are rapidly maturing markets. Take the solar market, for example.

A fledgling market just a few years ago, solar is now one of the big boys of clean energy. The market encompasses a growing number of technologies, for which costs are falling and output numbers rising.

As solar continually marches toward grid parity, the price at which it's competitive with traditional energy sources, some clear winners are emerging.

The companies that are taking the lead—the First Solars and Q-Cells of the world—are looking to buyout their competitors and other, smaller operations. Expect this phenomenon to continue with other sectors of renewable energy as well.

But that's just one way that M&A is initiated.

Because renewable energy is such a fast-growing and profitable business, large companies that aren't currently getting a piece of the action are looking to get a foot in the door.

In fact, most pure-play clean energy acquisitions in 2007 were driven by buyers wanting to expand into the renewable energy industry via power generation or equipment manufacturing. According to the above referenced report, with regard to companies expanding into the renewable energy business, "a total of $10.9 billion was invested in renewable power companies, an increase of 83% on 2006, while $7.6 billion was paid for clean energy equipment manufacturing firms, up 44% on the previous year."

Now, I'm not saying that every small renewable energy company is a buyout target. But if you find one with the right attributes, operating in the right sector, the chance grows exponentially higher.

That's partly why we founded the Alternative Energy Speculator (AES)—to find young, undervalued companies that have either the potential for massive gains or acquisition.

It just so happens that the latter occurred this week.

One of the companies in the AES portfolio, Xantrex Technology (TSX: XTX), announced it is being purchased by Schneider Electric, for 55% higher than their average share price over the last 30 days.

Of course, the stock skyrocketed by that amount in just a few short days, and I gave the sell notice for Alternative Energy Speculator members to cash out with handsome gains. Take a look:

I don't want you to miss the next opportunity like that.

With that in mind, please read the attached report. It has all the details on a stock we think could gain 353% in the next two years. And that's without a potential buyout.

Call it like you see it,

Nick