Independent Power & Renewables

Merchant/competitive generators, nuclear fleets and renewable power producers.

Companies

With a moat

40%

Average quality

1 wide moat · 5 narrow moat · 9 no moat · Open in screener →

Updated 27 Sep 2026

Independent Power & Renewables covers merchant and competitive power generators, nuclear fleets and renewable power producers. MoatScope covers 15 companies here. One has a wide moat, five a narrow moat and nine none.

How the industry makes money

Unlike regulated utilities, these companies earn market prices for the power they generate, often locked in through contracts with utilities and large customers such as data-center operators.

Where the moats are

Constellation Energy: a merchant generator built around a large nuclear fleet, whose carbon-free output is hard to replicate and increasingly contracted to large buyers.

The narrow-moat group includes Vistra, Talen Energy, Brookfield Renewable, Enlight and Clearway Energy.

What wears moats down

Power prices swing with gas prices and demand, plants need costly maintenance, and policy decides how new supply competes.

What to watch

Power prices and demand growth from data centers.
Long-term supply contracts.
Policy for nuclear and renewable generation.

Moat ratings and quality scores on this page update as companies report. Price versus fair value for every company in the industry is in the screener.

Market share

Businesses ranked by revenue, with each one's share of the market's total: companies filed under this industry, the segments of companies filed elsewhere that compete in it, and the largest companies MoatScope doesn't cover, such as private companies and companies listed outside the US. Each market's total comes from a cited source and covers the geography its businesses compete in (a national market counts only US revenue). A company that runs several businesses is split by the segments it reports.

US market · $552.1B total revenue in 2025 · source: U.S. EIA · rough estimate. Shares are of the whole market, including companies MoatScope doesn't cover; company revenue is for the fiscal year closest to 2025. Total US retail electricity revenue, the same total as US electric utilities: NRG and Vistra mostly sell retail power, Constellation sells to utilities and retailers.

#	Business	Market share	Revenue
1	NRG · NRG ENERGY, INC.	5.2%	$28.6B
2	CEG · Constellation Energy Corp	4.6%	$25.5B
3	VST · Vistra Corp.	3.2%	$17.7B
4	AES · AES CORP	1.5%	$8.5B
5	BEP · Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P.	1.2%	$6.4B
6	PEG · PUBLIC SERVICE ENTERPRISE GROUP INC PSEG Power · filed under Electric & Multi-Utilities	0.7%	$3.8B
7	AEP · AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER CO INC Generation & Marketing · filed under Electric & Multi-Utilities	0.5%	$2.8B
8	TLN · Talen Energy Corp	0.5%	$2.6B
9	SO · SOUTHERN CO Southern Power · filed under Electric & Multi-Utilities	0.4%	$2.2B
10	CWEN · Clearway Energy, Inc.	0.3%	$1.4B
	All other companies	80.7%	$445.6B

Companies

Company	Moat	Quality
CEG Constellation Energy Corp	Wide	50	4.6%	$93.3B
VST Vistra Corp.	Narrow	38	3.2%	$50.2B
NRG NRG ENERGY, INC.	None	34	5.2% + 1 other market	$20.9B
TLN Talen Energy Corp	Narrow	31	0.5%	$16.8B
BEP Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P.	Narrow	46	1.2%	$13.7B
ENLT Enlight Renewable Energy Ltd.	Narrow	45	<0.1%	$10.7B
AES AES CORP	None	35	1.5% + 1 other market	$10.7B
CWEN Clearway Energy, Inc.	Narrow	49	0.3%	$6.1B
OKLO Oklo Inc.	None	16	—	$5.1B
TAC TRANSALTA CORP	None	31	<0.1%	$4.4B
RNW ReNew Energy Global plc	None	19	0.2%	$2.5B
CEPU CENTRAL PUERTO S.A.	None	41	<0.1%	$1.9B
XIFR XPLR Infrastructure, LP	None	17	0.2%	$920M
ELLO Ellomay Capital Ltd.	None	23	<0.1%	$290M
ALCE Alternus Clean Energy, Inc.	None	5	—	—

15 companies.

Market share is a company's revenue in its main market as a share of that market's total: every company in it, including private companies and companies listed outside the US (sources under each market above). Revenue is for the fiscal year closest to 2025, and a market that is national (such as US banking) counts only US revenue. Companies that run several businesses are split by the segments they report, and each segment counts in its own market. A dash means the market has no reliable total yet, or no revenue was reported for that year.

Price versus fair value for every company is in the screener.

Other Utilities industries

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