The Financialisation, Marketisation and Privatisation of Renewable Energy
626 transactions in global renewable energy secondary market in 20 months in 2019-2020 cost US$289bn
Key findings
- 34% of transactions involved private equity funds;
- The public sector accounted for only 4.4% of transactions;
- 140 transactions involved a parent company or subsidiaries registered in tax havens;
- Europe and North America dominated the global changes in ownership of wind, solar, hydro and battery projects;
- 38 assets were acquired into public ownership (15,270MW), 14 assets were privatised (14,504MW) and 14 assets were transferred between public authorities (5,175MW) –there was a net gain in the number assets transferred to the public sector but only a small gain in the level of MW.
- US$8.4bn of the total cost were fees to consultants, lawyers and asset management companies to negotiate transactions
- Renewable energy electricity generation is largely in the control of finance capital and market forces so, that by 2050, generation, distribution and supply could be substantially owned and controlled by the private sector.
