Renewable Energy & Battery Stocks to Buy Amid Expanding Energy Transition

An updated edition of the Jan. 5, 2026, article.

The worldwide boom in renewable energy has intensified significantly in recent years, driven by a fundamental global shift toward sustainable energy. While the surging electricity demand for artificial intelligence (AI) has served as a high-profile catalyst, the industry's momentum is sustained by the rapid electrification of transport and a dramatic drop in solar and wind costs. As emerging economies outpace developed nations in capacity expansion, supportive policy shifts are cementing clean energy as the backbone of the future grid.

The International Energy Agency (“IEA”) projected in its December 2025 report that global renewable power capacity will increase almost 4,600 gigawatts (GW) between 2025 and 2030, double the deployment witnessed in the previous five years (2019-2024). Solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind are estimated to account for 96% of all renewable capacity additions through 2030. 

Within this broader global energy transition, energy storage has emerged as a critical pillar for maintaining a stable and resilient power architecture. Since renewable sources like wind and solar are inherently intermittent, advanced storage solutions are no longer optional; they are a fundamental requirement for modernizing the grid. 

By effectively decoupling power generation from immediate consumption, these systems provide the reliable "baseload" capacity necessary to support a decarbonized economy and sustain the immense power requirements of future AI-driven infrastructure.

The landscape is being reshaped by the rapid rise of distributed power generation coupled with localized energy storage. In recent years, the shift from centralized power plants toward rooftop solar, microgrids, and community-scale storage has empowered consumers to become "prosumers." 

Globally, this decentralized approach is accelerating the energy transition by reducing transmission losses, enhancing grid reliability during extreme weather, and allowing emerging markets to leapfrog traditional, carbon-heavy infrastructure. Together, these technologies are transforming the global grid into a flexible, high-tech ecosystem that’s capable of meeting the world's growing energy needs.

Amid this backdrop, you may consider adding core clean energy stocks like Sunrun RUN and Vestas Wind Systems VWDRY to your portfolio to reap the benefits of the booming renewable energy and energy storage space.  Exposure to utilities such as PPL Corp. PPL may also offer a way to participate in the energy transition, as these companies continue to scale their renewable generation assets.

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3 Renewable Energy & Battery Storage Stocks to Buy

Sunrun is recognized as America’s largest provider of residential solar, home battery storage and home-to-grid virtual power plants. It scales the nation’s largest distributed power plant with 400% growth, 17 programs, major partnerships, and record grid dispatches amid electricity demand surge.

As of September 2025, RUN had a Networked Solar Energy Capacity of 8,188 megawatts (“MW”), which represents the aggregate megawatt production capacity of its solar energy systems that have been recognized as deployments, since the company’s inception. 

The company dispatched nearly 18 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy from batteries to support grids across the United States in 2025 — enough electricity to power 15 million homes for one hour — with a combined peak output of 416 megawatts (MW), exceeding the capacity of many fossil-fuel peaker plants. Sunrun expects to have 10 GWh of dispatchable capacity online by the end of 2028.

These statistics underscore Sunrun’s steadily expanding footprint in the solar and energy storage markets.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock’s 2026 sales implies year-over-year growth of 10.6%.

Vestas Wind Systems specializes in designing, manufacturing, installing, and servicing wind turbines for onshore and offshore projects. By the end of 2025, Vestas had installed a total capacity of 201 GW in 88 countries, becoming the first company worldwide to surpass the 200 GW threshold. The company had wind turbines equivalent to 161 GW under service, as of 2025-end. 

The turbines that VWDRY produced and shipped during 2025 are expected to avoid a record-high 463 million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over their lifetime. As of year-end 2025, Vestas’ development project pipeline totaled 27 gigawatts (GW), with Australia, the United States and Brazil representing the largest markets.

These developments underscore Vestas’ steadily expanding footprint in the wind energy market, a vital forerunner of the global renewables growth.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this Zacks Rank #2 stock’s 2026 sales implies year-over-year growth of 18.4%. The stock boasts a long-term (three-to-five years) earnings growth rate of 15.7%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

PPL, primarily an electric utility company, has been rapidly expanding its renewable generation portfolio in recent times. As part of its long-term clean energy strategy, the company has adopted a net-zero carbon emissions goal, which it expects to achieve by 2050 through the continued retirement of uneconomic generation, deployment of newer technologies and investment in research and innovation, while maintaining reliable and affordable energy across its service territories.

PPL’s operating company, LG&E and KU, invests in expanding renewable and distributed resources, as well as researching low-carbon technologies. In early 2025, LG&E and KU proposed a significant $3.7 billion investment in Kentucky’s energy future, including the construction of two new, highly efficient 645-MW natural gas combined-cycle units, as well as the addition of 400 MW of battery storage to the power grid.

PPL also offers a Solar Share program that allows residential, commercial and industrial customers to participate in local solar generation and receive credits on their monthly bills. In Kentucky, PPL collaborates with the Electric Power Research Institute on energy storage research. 

Such initiatives should further enable this Zacks Rank #2 stock to achieve its goal of seamless integration of variable renewable energy sources like solar and wind into the grid. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PPL’s 2026 sales implies year-over-year growth of 5.5%. The stock boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 7.30%. 

 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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