Is Apple about to sell electricity, too?

Apple’s made a big push into renewable energy in recent years under Tim Cook’s leadership. Now it turns out the company is generating so much electricity it wants to start selling it too.

9to5Mac recently spotted a filing from the company establishing a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) called Apple Energy. The new subsidiary is based in Deleware, a well-known corporate tax haven in the United States. but it’s run out of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.

Typically, this would mean simply selling excess energy back to the big energy companies. However, Apple argues that it should be allowed to sell electricity straight to consumers because it’s not established enough in that market to dictate prices. That’s not totally unprecedented, and a few other firms already use a similar strategy.

9to5Mac also takes a bit of a leap and suggests Apple Energy could eventually help power the company’s rumored electric car. Cupertino is reportedly planning to unveil an entire network of charging stations to support the vehicle, and offering home-grown renewable electricity could give it a big advantage over Tesla and the rest of the competition.

That may be a bit of a stretch, but we wouldn’t be shocked if Apple started selling electricity in one way or another. The company clearly has a strong interest in renewable energy, and offering it directly to consumers could be an obvious next step in its broader environmental efforts.