Power Purchase Agreement Programs - Schedule of Consolidated Assets and Liabilities (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2019	Sep. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2019	Mar. 31, 2019	Jan. 01, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Sep. 30, 2018	Jun. 30, 2018	Mar. 31, 2018
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Current assets	$ 472,707	$ 475,548	$ 591,249	$ 633,052	$ 665,069	$ 663,934	$ 688,158	$ 368,757	$ 365,053
Long-term assets	849,884					857,860
Total assets	1,322,591	1,357,113	1,412,687	1,488,784	1,525,401	1,521,794	1,530,037	1,213,781	1,214,217
Current liabilities	236,381					227,455
Current portion of debt	337,583					29,848
Long-term liabilities	617,258					513,297
Long-term portion of debt	299,229					711,433
Total liabilities	1,490,451	$ 1,494,162	$ 1,533,014	$ 1,510,181	$ 1,503,636	1,482,033	$ 1,458,998	$ 1,812,698	$ 1,753,873
Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Current assets	17,027					26,231
Long-term assets	341,880					496,688
Total assets	358,907					522,919
Current liabilities	2,053					2,952
Current portion of debt	12,155					21,162
Long-term liabilities	17,549					14,120
Long-term portion of debt	223,267					323,360
Total liabilities	255,024					361,594
Bloom Energy
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Current assets	455,680					637,703
Long-term assets	508,004					361,172
Total assets	963,684					998,875
Current liabilities	234,328					224,503
Current portion of debt	325,428					8,686
Long-term liabilities	599,709					499,177
Long-term portion of debt	75,962					388,073
Total liabilities	$ 1,235,427					$ 1,120,439