Visualizing green capitalist renewable energy: Development and grassroots solar community alternatives in Puerto Rico

Abstract

AbstractThis article critiques industrial-scale solar energy development in Puerto Rico as a form of green capitalism that threatens the archipelago’s self-determination. Rather than uncritically embracing supposedly benign ‘green energy’ as necessary for advancing environmental, climate and energy justice, we argue that where, how and with whom this energy transformation takes place is crucial for calling attention to and challenging the continuance of inequitable and unjust power relations. To counter Puerto Rico’s ongoing exploitation as a ‘blank slate’ for development, we visually juxtapose the harms of industrial-scale solar ‘farms’ with distributed on-site, rooftop solar projects organized by grassroots group members in south-eastern Puerto Rico’s Jobos Bay region.