Renewable Energy Subsidies Must Stop

Texans and Americans must stop the renewable energy subsidies as they result in higher and higher energy prices over time. For instance, the high voltage electric lines that rate payers funded to the tune of $7B to transport renewable energy from West Texas to Central, Eastern and Gulf Coast Texas will utimately cost about $19B over their lifetime.

More eye-opening information about the cost of the subsidies is available at Real Clear Energy

Texas is the nation’s leading producer of wind energy. Yet most of the thousands of wind turbines littering the Texas landscape would not exist if Texas had not built subsidized transmission lines. These “CREZ” lines were needed because while the wind blows best in West Texas, most Texans live far to the east and along the Gulf Coast. The CREZ lines will cost Texans around $19 billion over their estimated useful life. Wind and solar farms also benefit from more than $3.5 billion in abatements offered by Texas counties and school districts.

Other states have joined Texas in handing the hard-earned money of their residents over to companies like NextEra (Florida Power and Light), BP (British Petroleum), and EDF Renewables (Electricité de France). Most states have done this by adopting renewable portfolio standards (RPS), which mandate that a certain percentage of electricity used be generated by renewables.

There is only one way out of this madness; America must eliminate renewable subsidies before we find ourselves paying European energy prices, riding around in European-style mini-cars, and living on top of each other in European-sized apartments.