For what reason did Max Schreck want to build a capacitor in Batman Returns?

Question

In Batman (1989) the Joker wanted to take over as Gotham City's crime boss of bosses, and then after he went insane, random murder was just "his thing" (being the world's first "Fully functional Homicidal Artist.")

In Batman Forever, Edward Nigma was a bit unbalanced before having his emotional breakdown at Bruce's rejection of his project, then (after being unhinged further by the Box) he had the goal of becoming "Gotham's cleverest carbon-based life form!" Two-Face just plain went loco after his transformation with the sole goal to "Kill the Bat!"

Even the villains of the fourth "film" had clear motivations: Freeze to cure his wife, Ivy to decimate humankind and create a paradise for plants.

In Batman Returns, however, the only clear villain motivation was Penguin's; societal acceptance and respect. If he couldn't get that, he'd settle for profit and fear, with a hint of revenge on the world. Catwoman went a little coo-coo, and simply wanted revenge on Schreck for killing her; so her desire is understandable.

But what the hell was Shreck's motivation for building the "Power Plant" in the first place?

Why would he, as a businessman, want to Suck power from the city? Wouldn't that be counter productive to his business ventures?

I ask because this, basically, served as the underlying bad guy plot point which kicked off everything; him killing Selina, working with the Penguin, trying to oust the Mayor and his central role in the film. Looking at it now though, it makes little sense for him to do so; the plant would gain him little money or power, and it wasn't going to fuel a special weapon.

Did the novelizations or any other materials explain this more clearly?

Answer 1

Overtly the plan was to supply masses of extremely cheap energy in order to "revitalise" Gotham.

“Power plant?” the Mayor objected. “Max, our studies show that Gotham has enough energy to sustain growth into the next centu—”

Shreck cut him off with a hearty laugh. “Your analysts are talking growth at one percent per annum. That’s not growth, that’s a mild swelling. I’m planning ahead for a revitalized Gotham City!” He waved at all the pretty lights on the far side of the plate-glass window. “So we can light the whole plaza without worrying about brownouts.” He turned and frowned critically at the Mayor. “Do you like the sound of brownouts? Do you?”

_{^{Batman Returns: Official Novelisation}}

In reality the goal was to suck in (steal) electricity from the city's other suppliers, then provide it back to the people in the city free of charge, minus the various tax breaks he'd get for owning the plant.

The power plant was important to him and his future plans, certainly. Free electric power would be indispensable in his plans to undercut his competitors, especially as foreign investment drove this country to its collective knees. No matter who won that battle, the Shrecks would survive.

One assumes that over time the other suppliers would realise that there was no profit in Gotham (with Schreck's plant producing free energy) and would sell up for pennies, allowing Schreck to eat up all of the firms that were actually producing his energy, eventually giving him a total monopoly.