The Corporatization of US Green Energy: a Double-Edged Sword Worth Billions

As the materials for producing wind and solar energy become cheaper, tax breaks and incentives for renewable energy increase, and the prospect of finding more oil and gas becomes weaker, corporations are entering the green energy landscape to the tune of billions of dollars.

Last month, NRG, one of the US’s largest energy companies with 100 power plants across the country, including plants that run on coal and natural gas, finalized details in its bid  to buy Alta Wind Energy Center in California, the largest wind farm in North America, for $800m. Even Google, Microsoft and Apple are getting into the game.  All three companies announced plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars  into wind and solar this year.

“There’s a battle going on – and it’s not a very public battle – over who owns green energy and who benefits from it,” said Anya Schoolman, the executive director of the Community Power Network, a non-profit which helps fund and build local power networks.

To some, the investment is a double-edged sword.  Environmentalists fear that green energy may now be going the same way as organic food – becoming an industry that uses the language and imagery of a social movement to sell products that benefit multi-billion dollar corporations, and not necessarily the communities they serve.

The Corporatization of US Green Energy:  a Double-Edged Sword Worth Billions