Other companies, like wind and solar power companies, perpetually maintain their station at the government pork trough, yet never produce products at a remotely competitive price.

FORBES: The New Green Economy Is Bleeding A Great Deal Of Green

Such a grid is being tested at the army's model forward operating base (FOB) in Fort Irwin, California, along with prototypes of a mobile, hybrid power station that combines solar panels and wind turbines with a conventional generator.

ECONOMIST: Monitor

This week EDF Renewable Energy officially unveiled the 140-megawatt Pacific Wind farm in the Tehachapi-Mojave region of Southern California and the nearby 143-megawatt Catalina solar power station.

FORBES: California's New Solar-Wind Hybrid Power Plant Greens The Grid