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Nature of Operations - Narrative (Details)			6 Months Ended
Nature of Operations - Narrative (Details)	May 26, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Mar. 06, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares	Jun. 30, 2017 power_plant $ / shares	Dec. 31, 2016 $ / shares	Oct. 07, 2016 USD ($)
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Merger agreement termination extension period		3 months
Agreement termination fee		$ 30,000,000
Senior notes \| 9.75% Senior Notes Due 2022
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Stated interest rate			9.80%
Global Operating LLC \| Senior notes \| 9.75% Senior Notes Due 2022
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Stated interest rate			9.75%
Redemption price, percentage		101.00%
Debt covenant, minimum threshold percentage of ownership for acceleration			25.00%
Common Class B
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Common stock, par value (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares			$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Common Class A
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Common stock, par value (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares		$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Common Class A
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Consideration to be received for each share (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares		$ 5.10
Renova arbitration
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Estimate of possible loss on terminated agreement under certain circumstances		$ 8,000,000
Maximum \| Renova arbitration
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Estimated litigation liability		$ 3,000,000
Brookfield affiliate \| Renova
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Number of company shares sold in settlement agreement (in shares) \| shares	19,535,004
Shares purchase price (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares	$ 4.75
Consideration received for shares sold	$ 92,791,269
Positive outcome of litigation \| SunEdison Bankruptcy Case
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Amount of damages sought					$ 2,000,000,000.0
SunEdison \| SunEdison \| Common Class B
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Memorandum of Understanding percentage of consideration to be transferred		25.00%
Investor \| SunEdison \| Common Class A
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Memorandum of Understanding percentage of consideration to be transferred		75.00%
India \| Project level debt
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Number of projects acquired \| power_plant			2
South Africa \| Project level debt
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Number of projects acquired \| power_plant			3