SAGE

Los Angeles,
London,
New Delhi,
Singapore,
Washington DC

Going green to stay in

the black: transnational
capitalism and renewable
energy
JERRY HARRIS
Abstract: Sustainable energy use is rapidly developing, often accompanied by
state support and patriotic political rhetoric. But the solar and wind energy
industries are highly transnationalised and already inserted into global patterns
of accumulation. This article argues that, while possibly resolving some of the
most pressing conflicts between capitalism and environmental sustainability,
green capitalism nevertheless fails to address the contradiction between labour
and capital. Therefore, any progressive strategy for social transformation must link
together the fair treatment of both nature and labour.
Keywords: environmental crisis, green capitalism, solar energy, transnational
corporations, wind energy

Is the future of capitalism green? And will the country that leads in green technology dominate the global economy? That is certainly the outlook of important
sectors of the capitalist class, both among long established corporations as well
as new entrepreneurs. But the green economy, particularly the energy sector,
is already taking a globalised path of development under the control of the
transnational capitalist class (TCC). While innovative corporations may emerge
Jerry Harris is a professor of history at the DeVry University, Chicago, and the author of The
Dialectics of Globalization: economic and political conflict in a transnational world (Newcastle, Cambridge
Scholars Publishing, 2008).
Race & Class
Copyright 2010 Institute of Race Relations, Vol. 52(2): 6278
10.1177/0306396810377009 http://rac.sagepub.com
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Jerry Harris: Going green to stay in the black 63

as dominant players, it will be as transnational corporations (TNCs), not as
national champions of nation states.
In the US, the green revolution is promoted as the way to maintain world
economic supremacy. In President Obamas state of the union speech he said,
the nation that leads the clean-energy economy will be the nation that leads the
global economy, and America must be that nation.1 Environmentalist Hunter
Lovins calls on the US to lead the world in green innovation in order to rule the
world, economically, politically, and probably militarily.2 Thomas Friedman
wraps green technology in red, white and blue, calling it the new currency of
power: Its all about national power what could be more patriotic, capitalistic
and geostrategic than that?3
But these dreams of national greatness are already outdated. Green energy
can indeed extend the life of capitalism but not within the confines of nationcentric logic and power. Major wind and solar corporations already operate on
a global scale, with innovations and research ongoing in Europe, India, Japan,
China and the US. Furthermore, the scale of the environmental crisis is beyond
any one country to solve. It calls for a global response and advanced sectors of
the TCC understand these world dimensions.
Actually, the environmental crisis offers an opportunity for capitalism to
begin a new cycle of accumulation a way to end the repeating failures of financial speculation, with a renewal of productive capital. As Muller and Passadakis
explain, the point about the ecological crisis is that it is neither solved nor
ignored in a green capitalist regime, but rather placed at the heart of its growth
strategy.4 By creating new systems of energy, transportation and architectural
design, and reengineering productive processes, capitalism can greatly reduce
its abuse of the environment. This would free capital from environmentally
harmful industries for new areas of investment and create profitable opportunities in dynamic new markets. Such a strategic shift would not only solve the
current crisis but legitimise a new political regime and lay the foundation for a
hegemonic bloc with a global social base. Nonetheless, this transformation
would not solve the contradiction between capital and labour and the TCC may
lack the political resolve to move fast and far enough to avoid major environmental disasters. But if the transformation does occur over the coming decades,
it may solve the most pressing problems between finite environmental resources
and capitalisms need to grow and profit.
With global warming widely accepted as an existential crisis, capitalists have
seized upon alternative and sustainable energy as a major transformative technology. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has called for a worldwide green new deal that would be a wholesale reconfiguration of global
industry.5 A study published by Scientific American argues for a $100 trillion
programme, projecting that 100 percent of the worlds energy, for all purposes,
could be supplied by wind, water and solar resources by 2030.6 That is a fair
amount of money but Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy
Agency, points out that: Each year without an international agreement adds
$500 billion to the costs estimated at $10 trillion annually of cleaning up the
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64 Race & Class 52(2)

power sector to help keep temperatures within a range that would avoid
unstoppable climate changes.7 Given the scale of the problem, $100 trillion
over twenty years sounds feasible. But dedicating $5 trillion a year from a world
GDP of $54 trillion (2007) seems impossible without a political revolution.
Although still a very small part of energy consumption, wind and solar power
are rapidly expanding. Total clean energy investments in 2008 were $155 billion
and $145 billion in 2009.8 Eventually renewable energy may play an economic
role similar to the digital, computer and telecommunications revolution of the
past thirty years. These technologies laid the basis for globalisation and vastly
expanded access to knowledge and information.9 Economically there was innovation, dynamic emerging corporations and new cycles of accumulation. The
technologies were also used by progressive activists across the world for organising and education. Just as the digital revolution spearheaded a new era of
capitalist globalisation, so too can green technology open the door to the next era
of growth while promoting important progressive changes.
While these possibilities exist, they will develop within historic capitalist patterns that continually reassert themselves. Digital technologies became centralised into a handful of transnational corporations, both old and new, which
today dominate the market and consume innovations through constant buyouts. That pattern is already appearing in the green energy field, except there
will be no single leading location such as Silicon Valley. Solar and wind technologies are global and they are being consolidated by a small number of competitive TNCs. This does not necessarily undercut their environmental benefits.
But it does undercut the democratic possibilities for a decentralised system of
energy and fails to solve the problems between capital and labour. By examining, in the following sections, the major wind and solar TNCs, the character of
the new green economy can begin to be uncovered.
Wind power
The wind power industry is already dominated by large TNCs. The top eleven
corporations that produce and install wind turbines held 95 per cent of the market in 2008. These TNCs are a combination of relatively new players, which have
established themselves over the last twenty years, and older corporate giants.
Vestas, the Danish TNC, held the number one spot with 19 per cent of the market, down from 24.6 per cent in 2007. The only significant US TNC, GE Energy,
was second with 18 per cent. Three Germany transnationals, Enercon, Siemens
and Nordex occupied 20 per cent of the market; two Spanish corporations,
Gamesa and Acciona, held 15 per cent; Sinovel, Dongfang and Goldwind, all
from China, controlled 13 per cent; and the Indian giant Suzlon, acquiring
REpower of Germany, now has 8 per cent.10 Although wind power is only 1 per
cent of global energy, it continues to experience rapid growth and receives the
largest share of renewable energy investments, $48.9 billion in 2009.
Because of the size and complexity of wind turbines, the industry tends
towards large manufacturers that often also install, service and maintain wind
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Jerry Harris: Going green to stay in the black 65

farms. Politically, building a green energy base is presented with nationalist
rhetoric about oil independence and local jobs. And, in all the countries moving
in this direction, government subsidies and incentives have been key to creating
a market. But, as pointed out in a study by the Peterson Institute and World
Resources Institute:
Cross-border investment rather than trade is the dominant mode of global
integration. Standard international trade in wind energy equipment is
relatively small and declining. Instead, foreign direct investment (FDI)
flows dominate the global integration of the wind sector.11
With $50 billion in total sales in 2008, only about 10 per cent were in exports. An
indicator of growing integration is FDI in newly built wind turbine factories.
World totals were just $200 million in 2003 but grew to about $2.3 billion by
2008.12 Consequently, although the industry is young, it is already following
transnational lines of development. At the end of 2009, there were 130,000 wind
turbines installed or under construction. Europe has half the worlds wind
turbine capacity and the industry employees 155,000 workers. But China and
the US are its fastest growing markets.
A priority for the US is creating a green manufacturing base to replace the
auto industry and other disappearing industrial jobs. Although a rapidly
expanding market exists, the US still lacks a firm footing when it comes to
production. In 2008, the US was the largest importer of wind turbines, buying
42.8 per cent of the worlds total. In comparison, Germany was a distant second, with 9 per cent. But Germany was also the largest exporter, with 41.3
per cent of the market, followed by Denmark at 25.8 per cent and India with
13.4 per cent.13 GE Energy was the largest US manufacturer, with 90 per cent
of its sales inside the country and 43 per cent of the US market in 2008. But the
next four largest producers and installers were all foreign TNCs: Vestas,
Siemens, Suzlon and Gamesa. Manufacturing is key to job creation in the
wind industry because established wind farms employ few workers. For
example, the Spanish TNC Acciona built four US wind farms which together
employ only seventy-six permanent workers. Their 14,000 acre farm in South
Dakota employs just twenty-one people.14
Creating US jobs will not mainly depend on large US-owned corporations but
thousands of small and mid-size suppliers and innovators linking to TNCs that
are building regional hubs of production. There are about 8,000 parts to a wind
turbine, so extensive supply chains are necessary. In 2008, 51 per cent of turbine
parts were imported. In 2009, this was still evident, with 80 per cent of the jobs
created by government stimulus money for wind power going overseas. But a
heavy band of potential suppliers exist, from Buffalo through Ohio, Michigan,
Indiana and into Chicago and Milwaukee. Suppliers range from small locally
owned companies, to those with facilities in a number of states, and others with
global reach. The Great Lakes Wind Network lists 380 national suppliers and
500 emerging suppliers.15 The old industrial heartland around the Great Lakes
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66 Race & Class 52(2)

is particularly strong in castings machining, bearings, gears and forges, laying a
foundation for future growth. Other hubs are forming around cities such as St
Louis, Kansas City and Philadelphia. Employment in the overall industry is
growing fast, from 50,000 in 2008 to 85,000 the following year. Besides small and
mid-size national suppliers, large TNCs are active in the supply chain, such as
ABB of Switzerland and Bosch-Rexrodt of Germany.
Governmental local content requirements play an important role in creating
jobs by forcing TNCs to locate facilities inside national markets. These have been
used extensively in Spain, Brazil, Canada and China, and are part of Obamas
$1.5 billion environmental stimulus package. So, for example, to supply the
energy industry, Swedens giant SKF now operates thirteen manufacturing sites
in the US. Consequently, mandates for national content and local jobs actually
serve to deepen globalisation, as TNCs respond by locating their subsidiaries
around the world.
This follows established patterns of global production, in which large TNCs
build facilities through greenfield FDI, use foreign affiliates, and seek out mergers and acquisitions in growing markets. Smaller nationally owned suppliers
are then engaged, integrating the local economy into global accumulation.
Ultimately the majority of jobs are in nationally owned companies but employment revolves around global TNCs, their control of major technologies and the
size of their investments.
The pattern of TNC involvement continues in the ownership and operation of
wind farm power generation in the US. The largest is NextEra Energy Resources,
a US firm with a solid lead that operates ninety facilities in twenty-five US states
and Canada. But in the number two spot is Iberdrola Renewables, an arm of the
fourth largest utility in the world. The initial public offering of shares in Iberdrola
Renewables raised $7.1 billion, making it the largest Spanish stock flotation.
Next is MidAmerican Energy, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, the global
investment firm of Warren Buffet. Buffet has even larger holdings in both coal
and oil. Last of the big investors is Horizon-EDPR, a subsidiary of a Portuguese
utility corporation.16
The transnational characteristics of the dominant wind turbine manufacturers
can now be briefly explored. Vestas has 20 per cent of the installed wind turbine
market spread over sixty-three countries. It employs over 20,000 workers of
fifty-six different nationalities. Its largest single market is the US, although its
penetration is greater in Denmark and Germany. Vestas has twenty-eight production facilities, nine in Denmark, five in China, three in Germany and three in
the US. Its cluster of factories in Colorado is expected to employ more than 2,000
workers. Research is carried out in the UK, Denmark, Germany, India, Singapore
and the United States. Denmark generates 21 per cent of its electricity from
wind, the most in the world.17 Another important Danish TNC is LM Glasfiber,
the worlds leading supplier of wind blades. With 7,200 workers, it operates
factories in Denmark, Poland, Spain, India, China and Canada. In the US, it has
opened manufacturing facilities in Arkansas and North Dakota, making wind
blades for Samsung.
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Jerry Harris: Going green to stay in the black 67

General Electric (GE) is ranked number one in the world for foreign-held
assets. GE Energy is just one corporate arm, with 40,000 employees out of a
global workforce of 323,000 spread over one hundred countries. Within GE
Energy are oil, coal, nuclear, gas, biomass, solar and wind power sections. Wind
turbine facilities are operated in the US, Germany and Spain. Under a joint
agreement with TPI Composites, wind blades are also produced in Iowa, Rhode
Island, Ohio, Mexico and China. In 2010, GE announced a $462 million plan to
expand production in Britain, Germany and to Norway and Sweden, creating
2,000 jobs. Their largest contract, for $1.4 billion, is to supply 338 turbines for
Oregons Shepards Flat wind farm.18 The parent corporation also owns GE
Energy Financial Services, which has a portfolio of forty wind farms. With a
fund of $22 billion, just $4 billion is dedicated to renewable energy and 20 per
cent of its assets are outside the US in thirty-five different countries.19 In terms of
operating their supply chain, a statement from their website underscores their
transnational character: In order to serve the global market, we utilize a global
supply chain. So anytime you look at a gas turbine, you could be looking at one
component perhaps sourced and machined in China, another component may
come from Brazil, other components may come from Eastern Europe.20
Among the three main German TNCs, Enercon, established in 1984, has the
largest share of the wind turbine market. With 12,000 workers worldwide, it has
production plants in Germany, Sweden, Portugal, Turkey, India and Brazil.
Enercon has installed 15,000 turbines in thirty countries with service and
maintenance contracts with 85 per cent of its global customers. In Germany, it
has 51.6 per cent of the market; Vestas is second with 31.6 per cent.21 Siemens is
one of the worlds great TNCs and ranks fifteen in foreign-held assets. It has
428,000 workers in almost every country on earth. Its energy division includes
coal, geothermal, gas, oil, solar and wind. But, unlike GE, Siemens has integrated
green technologies more deeply into its overall strategy and line of products. In
2009, the company claimed to save an estimated 210 million tons of carbon
dioxide, equivalent to the amount generated by New York, London, Berlin and
Tokyo combined. It has sold 7,800 turbines worldwide and is the largest supplier
and builder of offshore wind farms, having nine in the UK and eight in Denmark.
It employs 5,000 in the wind industry but 3,900 of those are located in Denmark.
In the US, it has penetrated turbine markets in six states, having factories in
Iowa and Kansas. But that is a small part of Siemens US presence: it has 69,000
employees working in all fifty states with US sales of $22.4 billion.22
Nordex AG employs 2,200 workers and exports 95 per cent of its turbines and
rotor blades to thirty-four countries. In the US, it has built a $100 million plant in
Arkansas and has additional factories in China. The US generates 20 per cent of
Nordexs global revenue and its involvement in conservative Arkansas shows
the growing acceptance of foreign TNCs integrating into local economies. As
Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe said: In a time when our economy has slowed,
its gratifying to see the creation of high-paying jobs in Arkansas jobs in cleanenergy industries are outpacing the overall job market, and Nordex is helping
to drive that.23
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68 Race & Class 52(2)

Spain gets 12 per cent of its energy from wind, the second highest in the world.
Gamesa is a dedicated renewable energy company with wind turbines in twenty
countries, employing 6,493 workers. Its global markets account for 71 per cent of
its sales, half of which are in Europe. It has three production plants in the US and
more in Denmark, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, India and Japan.
Additionally it has eighty-two wind farms in Spain, twenty in Germany, ten in
Italy, eight in Portugal, four in the US, as well as others.24 Spains other major
player is Acciona, a diversified TNC holding over one hundred companies with
a $16 billion market capitalisation. It operates in thirty-five countries and
employs 41,450 workers. Acciona Energy was formed in 1989 and entered the
US market in 2003, where it has four wind farms, a wind turbine plant in Iowa
and the worlds third largest solar farm in Nevada.25
In India, the wind energy field is dominated by Suzlon, 66 per cent owned by
the Tanti family. Tulsi Tanti personally owns 27 per cent and, in 2008, was
ranked by Forbes as the 368th richest individual in the world.26 Suzlon controls
50 per cent of the market in India, employs 14,000 people in twenty-one countries,
4,000 of whom manufacture turbines in India, China and the US. Suzlon is
considered the most vertically integrated wind turbine maker in the world.
Its global management office is in Amsterdam, its international sales headquarters in Demark and it carries out research and development in India, Germany,
the Netherlands and Denmark. It recently acquired Hansen Transmissions
of Belgium and Germanys REpower for $1.6 billion.27 These acquisitions have
catapulted Suzlon into the number three spot for global turbine production. But
Suzlons rotor blades have been subject to large recalls and it has a poor environmental record. Its production facility in Minnesota was cited for dumping
twenty-seven tons of hazardous materials into the air and it has failed to file
environmental reports for the last three years.28
Environmental violations from green energy investors are not uncommon.
GE became infamous for its massive dumping into the Hudson River in New
York. And the giant TNC, United Technologies Corporation, which bought 49.5
per cent of Clipper Wind, has been fined millions by the Environmental
Protection Agency. In 1991, it suffered the largest criminal environmental fine in
history for dumping toxic waste.29
In 2010, China became the largest producer of wind turbines in the world,
yet its corporations, unlike most others, rely almost exclusively on domestic
markets. With government support and a large internal market, three Chinese
corporations are among the top ten global manufacturers. At first, China relied
on foreign TNCs and licensing agreements for technology. Wind power projects
were dominated by Vestas, Nordex, GE Wind, Gamesa, REpower and five other
TNCs. The biggest wind turbine complex in the world was built in China by
Vestas with an agreement to transfer electronic control and generator technology.
Danish corporations had 52.4 per cent of the Chinese market, followed by
Germany with 20.3 per cent.30 But by 2009, local Chinese producers supplied 80
per cent of the market and renewable energy employed 1.2 million workers. The
Chinese stimulus package of 2009 created a huge boost to the green energy
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Jerry Harris: Going green to stay in the black 69

industry as almost 40 per cent of the $585 billion package targeted environmental projects. As Dallas Kachan of the Cleantech Group in San Francisco stated:
Its not well known that China has set aside more money for the adoption of
clean technologies than any other country on the planet.31
The Chinese government has a strong national policy with many large government projects excluding foreign firms. Xinjiang Goldwind has been the biggest
winner. Formed in 1998, it now has 25 per cent of the national market and has
experienced 100 per cent growth for eight straight years. As Chinese corporations
have grown stronger, they have entered transnational circuits of accumulation.
Goldwind struck its first big export contract with Cuba, followed by a joint venture between a US private equity firm, US Renewable Energy Group, and a
Chinese renewable energy company, Shenyang Power Group, to build a Texas
wind farm. The $1.5 billion project will import 240 turbines and be financed by
Chinese state-owned banks. To quieten critics, future joint ventures will produce
and assemble turbines in the US to meet local content mandates.32 Late in 2009,
China also scored the worlds largest clean energy flotation since 2007, when
wind developer Longyuan Power raised $2.6 billion in Hong Kong.
As evident from the above review, transnational accumulation patterns are
firmly entrenched in the wind power industry. The field is occupied by a combination of TNCs that are exclusively dedicated to renewables and by older
TNCs for which green energy is a small part of their overall corporate strategy.
As the industry matures, cross-border mergers and acquisitions are growing.
Some deals include Goldman Sachs with Portuguese power utility EDP,
Germanys Eon and Spains Iberian, and the UKs International Power acquiring Italys Trinergy. In 2007, merger and acquisition deals had a total industry
value of $11.5 billion.33 An overview of the industry shows no one nation or
company having a hegemonic position; rather, development is firmly in the
hands of the TCC.
Solar power
The production of photovoltaic (PV) panels for solar power is not as concentrated as the wind turbine industry. The ten largest PV manufacturers had 57
per cent of the world market in 2007, down from 80 per cent in 2004. More companies are entering the field with competing panel technologies and innovative
research is varied. But, according to the PV Status Report 2008, the industry is
currently expanding into a fully-fledged mass-producing industry with
increasing consolidation expected in the coming years. Growth rates of investments have averaged 250 per cent annually since 2004, while the average annual
revenue produced per worker is a scintillating $300,000.34
There are about 200 PV manufacturers worldwide. Some 130 of these produce
thin film solar cells but 90 per cent of cells are produced by eighty-two companies
involved with crystalline silicon. Of these, forty are in Europe, twenty-seven in
China, nineteen in the US, twelve in Taiwan and eight in Japan. Germany is the
biggest market, three times the size of the second largest, Spain. Other significant
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70 Race & Class 52(2)

Table 1. Top ten photovoltaic TNCs by market size36
Transnational corporation

Country of headquarters

Sharp
Q-Cells
Suntech
Kyocera
First Solar
Motech
Sanyo
SunPower
Yingli Solar
Solarworld

Japan
Germany
China
Japan
US
Taiwan
Japan
US
China
Germany

markets include the US and Japan. China and Taiwan are important producers
but 98 per cent of their panels are exported.35 In all of these countries, corporations and markets have been stimulated by government subsidies, tax incentives
and energy mandates. As with wind, without government support these new
industries would be as yet unable to compete with coal and oil. Table 1 shows the
top ten TNCs involved in PV manufacturing; most of these corporations are also
involved in building and servicing large solar farms throughout the world.
Eleven PV manufacturers are located in Japan, with about 23 per cent of the
worlds market. Sanyo launched solar development in 1975. It ranks forty-third
in the world for foreign-held assets, holds 395 affiliates and 119,500 of its 180,500
workers are employed abroad.37 As one of the worlds largest TNCs, Sanyos PV
division is a small unit within the corporation. It operates factories in Japan,
Hungary, Mexico and the US in a seamless global assembly line. The plant in
Oregon grows crystals and slices them into wafers; these are sent to Japan and
turned into cells and then onto Hungary and Mexico where they become finished panels. The factory in Oregon received $45 million in state subsidies, or
about $225,000 for each of its 200 jobs. Because of local government regulations,
Sanyo pays the highest wages in the US solar industry.38
Kyocera, the worlds fourth largest PV producer, is another large TNC with
219 subsidiaries, 59,514 employees and 58 per cent of its revenues generated
outside Japan. It has three solar panel facilities in Japan and one each in Mexico
and the Czech Republic.39 Sharp is the worlds largest PV producer, having
started mass production in 1963. It has both solar cell and silicon production
factories in Japan, as well as two module facilities. Additional module plants are
located in the US, the UK and Thailand. Within Japans residential market, Sharp
maintains a close collaboration with major housing companies offering complete PV systems. It is also involved in a joint venture in Italy with Enel and
STM, building solar farms and cell production. Sharp employs 59,400 workers,
with over 27,000 outside Japan.40
China has fifty solar cell and 300 solar module companies, although many
closed in the 2008 economic crisis. Still, 30 per cent of the worlds solar PVs now
come from China, up from 1 per cent in 1999. Included in this mix are joint
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Jerry Harris: Going green to stay in the black 71

ventures with Japan, Australia, Canada, Taiwan and the US. One of the biggest
deals, for $5 billion dollars, was recently signed with eSolar of California. The
Chinese government has played a powerful role in promoting the industry and
used the Olympics as a showcase for solar technology. All seven main Olympic
stadiums were equipped with PV systems. Additionally, 90 per cent of the
outside lighting and the entire hot water supply for the Olympic village were
powered by solar energy.41
In 2009, China became the largest maker of solar panels in the world. Suntech,
boasting the lowest cost per watt in the world, has emerged as Chinas global
leader. Chief Eexecutive Officer Zhengrong Shi is Chinas richest person,
although he holds Australian citizenship. Suntech is listed on the New York
Stock Exchange (NYSE), has five production sites in China, additional facilities
in Japan and sale offices worldwide. Suntech has about 13 per cent of the US
market for PV panels and hopes to reach 20 per cent by the end of 2010. By opening a new plant in Arizona, Suntech can label panels Made in the USA and
meet requirements for government-financed projects. The company first entered
the US in 2008 when it bought California based EI Solutions, with a solar plant
in Denver and a customer base that included Google, Disney and North Face.
Suntech also entered into a fifty-fifty joint venture with MMA Renewable
Ventures in Baltimore with plans to finance, develop and operate large solar
plants.42 Further global expansion saw the company investing $100 million with
Russias Nitol Solar to produce polysilicon in Siberia.
Yingli Solar is Chinas second leading PV TNC with six subsidiaries. Its market capitalisation is $2.11 billion with more than $447 million raised from its
stock flotation on the NYSE. Yingli is active throughout Europe and built solar
grids in Germany, Portugal and Spain. In the US, Yingli Green Energy America
received a $4.5 million tax credit from the treasury department to help build
manufacturing operations and headquarters in New York and San Francisco.
Both New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and San Francisco Mayor Gavin
Newsom welcomed Yingli. Bloomberg stated: Yingli Green Energys East Coast
Headquarters will create green jobs and help our city become more efficient
and sustainable. Newsom points out: Chinese firms, like Yingli Green Energy,
bring the rising strength of Chinese entrepreneurship, their rapidly growing
industry expertise, and the ability to take these innovations to mass scale. Yingli
Chairman Lainsheng Miao commented: Given the vast potential and rapid
growth of the US solar market, it is imperative for us to have a strong presence
on both coasts of the country.43
These quotes express the integrated global character of the industry, the outlook of the TCC and why a nationalist strategy for green energy is already out of
step with reality. Chinese solar companies are also active in raising money on
US and European capital markets, pulling in $2.5 billion in 2007. As Chinese
corporations locate abroad, transnational capital flows into China, creating a
two-way street integrating global production and investments. As the United
Nations sustainable energy report notes: Chinese firms, in particular, are eager
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72 Race & Class 52(2)

to list overseas. And this reflects a continuing shift of emphasis from West to
East (in which) Indian and Chinese companies have become increasingly acquisitive outside their domestic boundaries.44
As Chinas solar panel production surges, it needs to produce more polysilicon. More than twenty companies are entering the field with a capacity of up to
100,000 tons, more than double the entire worlds production today. Polysilicon
usually sells for $84,000 a ton but Chinese producers make it for as little as
$21,000 per ton up to a maximum of only $54,000. But the toxic waste generated
by production has turned into a major problem. Recurring toxic problems with
green energy producers, although disappointing, should be no surprise. For a
number of these corporations, green capitalism is about the colour of money, not
the environment.45
Thomas Friedman has become a fan of Chinese market Leninism and its ability to react quickly to changing conditions. Now, instead of calling for sole US
leadership, Friedman hopes that the US and China can work together. But he
still maintains his western point of view, writing that making clean power technologies cheaper will happen faster and more effectively with the US specializing in energy research and innovation and China specializing in mass
production.46 But since the 1960s, US federal spending on research has dropped
from 2.5 per cent of GDP to just 0.3 per cent. Furthermore, Friedman is so stuck
on US superiority he must blind himself to Chinas desire to do advanced
research and its determination to move up the value chain. The governments of
Japan, China and India lead the world in clean energy research and development. In terms of corporate research, European TNCs BP, Eon, BASF, Shell and
several others have made significant investments, while only GE and United
Technologies in the US are doing the same.47
In Taiwan, about twenty-one companies are involved in various stages of
solar power research and production but only Motech ranks in the worlds top
ten. Motech has three production facilities in Taiwan and, in 2009, bought a GE
assembly plant scheduled for closure in Delaware. With growing orders from
Europe, the corporation has set up operations in China and has a distribution
network in fifty countries.48
Although the US has only 7 per cent of the global PV market, its share of the thin
film market is 43 per cent.49 US efforts in research and development have recently
increased, with technology pathway partnerships encompassing fifty companies,
fourteen universities, three non-profits and two national laboratories. Although
the PV industry argues for US market leadership and technological ownership,
most politicians and workers are focused on jobs, not the national origin of TNCs.
The PV Roadmap, issued by the industry in 2004, states that: US industrys technology strength in capturing near-term markets will ensure that the United States
owns and manufactures the solar products that will serve future generations.50
Noticeably, it does not say where this manufacturing will take place.
The global focus quickly becomes evident in a survey of US solar companies.
The largest US firm, First Solar, is owned by True North Partners, an investment
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Jerry Harris: Going green to stay in the black 73

arm of Wal-Marts Walton family. Headquartered in Arizona, the company has
four facilities in Ohio, four in Malaysia and one in Germany. Its operations in
Malaysia are ten times the size of their facilities in Ohio. Chief Executive Officer
Mike Ahearn says: First Solar is to a large extent a German success story we
purchase over half of the equipment used in our production lines from German
manufacturers and we count suppliers in Eastern Germany as among our most
important business partners.51
The next largest company, capitalised at $2 billion, is SunPower. It does
research and development in California but production takes place in the
Philippines where its two factories employ 3,400 workers. In 2008, SunPower
opened another facility in Malaysia, outsourced work to Jiawei Solar in China
and contracted with Jabil to produce solar panels in Mexico.52 Other important
firms include: British Petroleums subsidiary BP Solar, headquartered in
Maryland, where it has one factory alongside five in Spain, one in Australia and
joint ventures in India, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand and
Indonesia; Evergreen Solar, which has a facility in Massachusetts and two joint
production ventures in Germany; Global Solar Energy, a European-owned operation based in Arizona, with facilities in Germany; and United Solar Systems,
which has one plant in Michigan and a joint venture in China. According to the
PV Status Report 2008, these were the six main PV producers in the US. Beyond
their patriotic posturing about rebuilding industrial America, US corporations
are clearly embedded in transnational accumulation and global assembly line
production.
The Sierra Club joined a number of US unions to study wages and government subsidies in renewable energy manufacturing plants. Table 2 shows the
results of their survey of fourteen states providing economic subsidies for
twenty-eight separate contracts.
Evidently, state governments have no problem spending US tax dollars on
foreign corporations, as long as they produce local jobs. And that is how it
should be. But it undercuts arguments about the US leading the green revolution, while pointing to the transnational character of the renewable energy
industry.
Europe has 25 per cent of the global solar market. Although Germany has half
the sunlight of San Diego, it is the largest market in Europe, accounting for 80
per cent of the EUs installations and seven of the ten leading producers. This is
because Germany, along with Spain, has structured a decentralised market that

Table 2. Comparison of US-headquartered and foreign-headquartered corporations53

US-headquartered corporations

Foreign-headquartered corporations

Contracts: 15
Subsidies: $393.630 million
Corporate investment: $1.674 billion
Jobs created: 4,883

Contracts: 13
Subsidies: $317.250 million
Corporate investment: $1.492 billion
Jobs created: 6,547

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74 Race & Class 52(2)

encourages hundreds of thousands of domestic users to put panels on their
homes. This was accomplished with government-mandated feed-in laws that
make energy utilities buy excess solar power generated by homes with prices
set at premium value. About 75 per cent of solar energy jobs are locally created
through sales, installation and maintenance, with 25 per cent of jobs in production, research and development. So, although a significant amount of PV systems are imported, much of the added value takes place locally. Overall, about
40,000 people are employed in Germanys PV industry and another 30,000 in
the EU.54
Q-Cells is Germanys leader with sales of $1.763 billion in 2008 and a workforce of over 2,000. It has two main factories, one in east Germany and another in
Malaysia. It also maintains an expanding portfolio of investments, joint ventures
and subsidiaries, including companies in Switzerland, Norway, China and the
US. Solar World is Germanys second largest PV corporation with about 1,900
workers, a third of whom are in the US. Sales in 2008 hit $1.26 billion. The company has five locations in Germany, one in Sweden and three in the US. Their
recently opened Oregon location will be the largest solar cell factory in the US
with a projected workforce of 1,000 by 2012. It also has subsidiaries in Germany,
Spain, Asia and Africa.
Conclusion
The global pattern in solar energy is similar to that of wind, characterised by
transnational corporations which have foreign direct investments and assembly
lines wherever a significant market exists. In both solar and wind, there is a
combination of some of the most powerful and well established TNCs and
new corporations more exclusively focused on renewables. While government
support is important, there is no nationally exclusive policy tax breaks and
stimulus are offered to all active TNCs regardless of origin. The only exception
is China but, as corporations there build a solid economic base, they too have
started to expand abroad. It should be no surprise that a pattern of global accumulation has emerged so early; transnational capital is hegemonic worldwide,
so any new industry and significant technology will develop within this framework. This brings forth a number of questions about the viability of green
capitalism and alternative paths of development.
Marxist environmentalists make the point that capitalism can never fundamentally solve the environmental crisis because it is inherently a system of
unending growth and accumulation.55 As subjectively appealing as this argument is for the Left, I believe that it is misplaced in the sense of what capitalism
can and cannot do. By environmentally redesigning production, energy, transportation, architecture and agriculture, capitalism can maintain a market for
goods that reduces inputs and energy. It may not be able to accomplish this for
all commodities but enough to significantly lessen its abuse of our planet. If
accomplished, the cataclysmic clash between capitalism and nature may be
postponed for a significant amount of time.
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Jerry Harris: Going green to stay in the black 75

But whether or not the capitalist class has the political will to carry out these
transformations is another question. Judging by its failures in Kyoto, Copenhagen
and elsewhere, capitalism may lose any shred of political legitimacy long before
it can act in a qualitatively transformative manner. To be sure, there are socially
responsible corporations, scientists and economists who understand the full
nature of the challenge ahead. As Kevin Parker, global head of Deutsche Bank
Asset Management, said: The cost of inaction is the extinction of the human
race. Period.56
But significant restraints exist. With a short-term focus among neoliberal
speculators, the feeble efforts of neo-Keynesian reformers and sabotage by fossil
fuel lobbyists, the capitalist system may be unable to respond within the limits
of ecological time. Chained to the constraints of its economic dogma, important
sectors of the capitalist class are unable to react with long-term planning and the
investments needed to build a sustainable economy. A few examples tell the
story. Out of a total of 2,810 climate change lobbyists in Washington, only 138
support renewable energy.57 And, of the total of $250300 billion in global energy
subsidies, $200 billion go to fossil fuels and only $16 billion to renewables.58 It is
clear that neither the neoliberal nor neo-Keynesian wing of the transnational
capitalist class can meet the challenge. What needs to emerge is a new green
hegemonic bloc providing political leadership with a dominant culture and
ideology. Such a change is possible but, even so, green capitalism faces another
set of historic problems.
What the transnational capitalist class cannot change is its need for profits and
power won through competitive combat. Therefore, movements towards monopolisation, economic rationality and the exploitation of labour cannot be resolved
within the parameters of green capitalism. There will be a continuing drive to
defeat or acquire competing corporations, resulting in bankruptcy and unemployment. And there will be constant pressure to lower costs, resulting in lower
wages, less benefits and sweatshop conditions wherever possible, while the need
to externalise costs will result in greater burdens on governments and citizens.
As Marx pointed out, revolutions occur when the relations of production hold
back the necessary development of society, not the inability of capitalism to revolutionise technology. Therefore, the contradiction between labour and capital is
still key. Green capitalism may very well have the ability to develop the appropriate technology but not the means to fully realise its social organisation.
While a strategic divide exists between speculative finance and productive
capital, lines need to be clear within green capitalism as to those with a broad
stakeholder strategy and those who follow exploitive practices. Wal-Mart is a
good example of a TNC with a number of green initiatives, while maintaining
some of the worst labour practices in the world. Another example is GE, found
guilty of violating Chinese laws on maximum hours and overtime pay. Moreover,
green jobs tend not to be well paid. The average US manufacturing wage is
$18.88 per hour. But in the renewable energy field, wages range between $11 to
$22 per hour. As reported in High Road or Low Road?, the biggest difference is
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76 Race & Class 52(2)

where state and local governments attach strong labor standards to economic
development subsidies and enforce those standards.59
Corporations should be judged by good wages, sustainable practices and
social responsibility, not national origin. The division is not between US and
foreign corporations. Sanyo has the highest wages in the US green energy industry and Gamesa voluntarily recognised the steelworkers union. Consequently,
the siren song of nationalism should find no chorus among the working class.
When it comes to US transnationals, none advocate a national jobs policy. When
the senate prepared to attach Buy American legislation to green stimulus monies, GE protested that such restraints would hurt their ability to compete in a
global clean-energy market that relies on parts from many countries.60 As such,
unions and social movements should pressure governments to force TNCs to act
fairly, not campaign to give money to nationally headquartered transnational
corporations. If any sector should be first in line for subsidies, it should be
nationally owned small and mid-size innovators who are committed to socially
responsible labour practices.
To be effective, the Left must advocate for high road sustainable development.
This means that progressives should not limit their call to green capitalism nor
paint it in national colours. Instead, a transformative strategy should link together
the fair treatment of labour and nature, opening the door to possible coalitions
between social movements, labour and socially responsible corporations. Even
so, a socially responsible corporation like Gamesa was forced to lay off a large
section of its US workforce during the economic crisis in 2009 a reminder that
even well meaning companies have to abide by the competitive rules of the
market. Under such pressures, green capitalism can never be more than an intermediate strategy for Left activists to help move society towards sustainability. As
for capitalisms long-term inability to create a system fully in balance with the
finite resources of our world, as well as its failure to provide a decent living for
every human life, that struggle for full environmental and social justice unfolds
in step with the green transformation of the global economy.
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2 Randy Paynter, The US carbon footprint and good business: the rest of the world gets it, why
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Jerry Harris: Going green to stay in the black 77

8 New Energy Finance, Clean energy league tables, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (March 2009),
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11 Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, Thilo Hanemann and Lutz Weischer, It Should Be a Breeze: harnessing
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33 United Nations Environment Programme, Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008
(New York and Geneva, United Nations, 2008), pp. 401.
34 Arnulf Jger-Waldau, PV Status Report 2008 (Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of
the European Communities, 2008), pp. 11, 124.
35 Ibid., pp. 1113.
36 Ibid.
37 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, World Investment Report 2009 (United
Nations, New York and Geneva, 2009), p. 229.
38 Amy Hsuan, Sanyo Electric opens new solar panel plant in Salem, Oregonian (2 November 2009).
39 <http://global.kyocera.com>.
40 <http://www.sharp-solar.com>.
41 Jger-Waldau, PV Status Report 2008, op. cit., pp. 425.
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43 <http://ir.yinglisolar.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=213018&p=irol-newsArticle_pf&id=1307728>.
44 United Nations Environment Programme, Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008,
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45 Alex Pasternack, Pollution casts shadow over Chinese solar, treehugger.com (11 March 2008),
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/solar_pollution_china.php>.
46 Thomas Friedman, Whos sleeping now?, New York Times (10 January 2010).
47 United Nations Environment Programme, Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008,
op. cit., p. 28.
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78 Race & Class 52(2)

48 <http://www.motech.com.tw>.
49 For a state by state listing of renewable energy incentives, rules and regulations, see JgerWaldau, PV Status Report 2008, op. cit., pp. 637.
50 Ibid., p. 83.
51 Friedman, Hot, Flat and Crowded, op. cit., pp. 38990.
52 Abigail L. Ho, SunPower to invest P27B in Philippines, Inquirer (20 April 2007), <http://
business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20070420-61464/Sunpower_to_invest_P27B_
in_Philippines>.
53 PhilipMattera, High Road or Low Road? Job quality in the new green economy (Washington, DC,
Good Jobs First, 2009), p. 13
54 Jger-Waldau, PV Status Report 2008, op. cit., pp. 1013.
55 John Bellamy Foster, The Vulnerable Planet (New York, Monthly Review Press, 1994).
56 John Broder, Climate deal likely to bear big price tag, New York Times (9 December 2009).
57 Jeff Goodell, As the world burns, Rolling Stone (6 January 2010).
58 United Nations Environment Programme, Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008,
op. cit.
59 Mattera, High Road or Low Road?, op. cit., p. 6.
60 Kim Chapman, Chinese turbines fan Made in USA drive, San Francisco Chronicle (14 April 2010).

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