Making the 'business case': vocabularies of motive and clean tech innovation in the hidden developmental state.

This article examines the hidden developmental state (HDS) in the context of state-led innovation, focusing on the rollout of smart meters in Washington State funded primarily by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). It argues that ARRA’s project-based funding enabled engineers and managers to bypass traditional utility gatekeepers, facilitating a shift from fossil fuel infrastructure toward renewable technologies. The study highlights how a shared "business case" discourse functioned as a rhetorical tool that legitimized risky innovations while masking diverse individual and organizational values related to efficiency, democracy, and sustainability. Through interviews with technology experts, utility managers, and government officials, the article reveals how cultural processes and vocabularies of motive shape the decentralized and often invisible role of the HDS in transforming electricity markets and advancing clean energy technologies.