Google surprised a lot of people in 2010 when it received approval from federal regulators to buy and sell electricity at market rates just like a utility. Was Google actually getting into the business of selling you power?
Well, not exactly. The company wasn’t really looking to replace utilities. The move was designed to help Google procure more renewable energy for itself by giving it the flexibility to invest directly in large projects and sell the power back to the grid if needed.
Since it launched its renewables investment bonanza in 2007, Google has put over $1 billion into the sector. Its early strategy, called the RE
