Nearly a year ago, the Trump administration’s embrace of fossil fuels sent a shockwave through the renewable energy market, rattling investors and causing many stocks to lose their footing. However, for those willing to overlook the short-term noise, the past year’s pullback might be a buying opportunity for the long term.
- NuScale Power (SMR 1.95%): The nuclear play
- Plug Power (PLUG 0.90%): The hydrogen play
- CleanSpark (CLSK 4.91%): The clean crypto play
All three of these stocks are speculative, but they could attract a lot more attention if they scale up their businesses.
The Nuclear Power Option: NuScale Power
NuScale Power develops small modular reactors (SMRs) for nuclear power, which can be installed in vessels that are only nine feet wide and 65 feet tall. These advantages make them cheaper and easier to deploy than traditional nuclear reactors.
| NuScale’s SMRs | Key Features |
| Reactor Clusters | Generate up to 55 megawatts of electricity |
| SMR Clusters | Require 77 megawatts of electricity to be cost-effective |
NuScale’s SMRs are the only ones to have received a standard design approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), but this approval only covers its reactor clusters that generate up to 55 megawatts of electricity.
For a cluster of SMRs to be more cost-effective than a comparable coal-fired plant, it must generate at least 77 megawatts of electricity. NuScale expects the NRC to approve its 77 megawatt designs this year, which would significantly boost the company’s revenue potential.
NuScale only generated $37 million in revenue in 2024, but analysts expect that figure to surge to $402 million in 2027. This growth could be driven by its new NRC design approvals, more contracts in the U.S., and the soaring energy needs of the booming data center market.
NuScale already trades at 5 times its 2027 sales, but it has plenty of room to grow over the next few decades.
The Hydrogen Power Option: Plug Power
Plug Power develops hydrogen fuel cell, charging, storage, and transport technologies. It’s deployed more than 69,000 fuel cell systems and over 250 fueling stations across the world, and it’s the single largest buyer of liquid hydrogen.
Amazon and Walmart, which are invested in Plug Power through stock warrants, are two of its top customers. The two retail giants both use Plug’s hydrogen fuel cells to power the electric forklifts in their warehouses.
| Plug Power’s Revenue | 2024 Revenue ($M) | 2027 Revenue ($M) | CAGR |
| 629 | 2024 | 836 | 32% |
Plug Power’s revenue declined 29% to $629 million in 2024 as its net loss widened from $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion. This slowdown was caused by macro headwinds, which curbed the market’s demand for new hydrogen charging projects, and tough comparisons to the inorganic expansion of its smaller cryogenics business in 2022 and 2023.
However, from 2024 to 2027, analysts expect Plug’s revenue to grow at a CAGR of 32%, driven by the stabilization of the hydrogen market, new contracts, and a $1.66 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy for the construction of six green hydrogen manufacturing plants.
Plug Power won’t turn profitable anytime soon, but it’s been cutting its costs and selling some of its equipment (and leasing it back) to narrow its net losses.
With a market cap of $1.2 billion, it trades at just 1.6 times this year’s sales – so any positive developments might drive its stock a lot higher over the next few years.
The Clean Crypto Play: CleanSpark
CleanSpark originally built modular microgrids for wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources. These microgrids can be deployed as stand-alone power systems or plugged into existing energy grids – where they’re used to transfer energy into storage systems, load management solutions, and backup generators.
However, four years ago, it acquired the Bitcoin miner ATL Data Centers and upgraded its miners with its microgrids. It subsequently acquired more Bitcoin miners, upgraded their plants in the same way, and mined more Bitcoins. This clean energy approach arguably made it more appealing than its coal-powered competitors.
By the end of 2024, CleanSpark was holding 9,952 Bitcoins – which are worth $819 million as of this writing. That’s 38% of its market capitalization of $2.1 billion.
It also expanded its fleet by 127% year over year to 201,808 miners, which increased its operating hashrate (which gauges its mining efficiency) 288% to 39.1 EH/s (exahash per second).
From fiscal 2024 (ended last September) to 2027, analysts expect CleanSpark’s revenue to grow from $379 million to $1.1 billion as it narrows its net losses.
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