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Wind and Solar Subsidies Drying Up in Europe

- Jack Dini Saturday, March 19, 2011

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/34596

Wind
and solar energy subsidies are experiencing drastic cutbacks in many
European nations and some places in the United States.

In a radical
change of policy, the Netherlands is reducing its targets for renewable
energy and slashing the subsidies for wind and solar power. It has also
given the green light for the country's first new nuclear power plants in
almost 40 years. Why the change? Wind and solar subsidies are too
expensive. Holland thus becomes the first country to abandon the EU-wide
target of producing 20 percent of its domestic power from renewables.
(1)

Italy's government passed a decree to stop solar energy and
deep cuts in wind energy due to their high costs to consumers and
technical problems integrating these sources into the existing
infrastructure. (2)

Lawrence Solomon reports that December 2010 was
a bad month for subsidies (3):

. Spain slashed payouts for wind
projects by 35% while denying support for solar thermal projects in their
first year of operation. This latest round of Spanish cuts followed
announcements in November that payouts for solar photovoltaic plants would
be cut by 45%.

. France announced a four-month freeze on solar
projects and a cap on the amount of solar that can be built. These
measures and others continue a retrenchment that saw industry payouts cut
twice last year, and that will likely continue as opposition grows to
France's rapidly using power tax on electricity.

. The German
government announced it may discontinue the solar industry's sweetheart
tariffs in 2012. This latest announcement follows a surprise reduction in
2009 and another reduction to start in 2011.

Solomon also reported
that in October, New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, slashed
by two-thirds the revenue that homeowners who had installed solar panels
would receive from 60 cents per kilowatt-hour to 20 cents. New South Wales
overnight went from being Australia's most generous to least generous
subsidizer. Also in October, the UK government announced that withering
spending cuts were coming to renewable projects.
(3)

Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Rhode Island and Virginia
either cancelled or delayed renewable energy projects.

In
the US, state regulators in Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Rhode Island and
Virginia either cancelled or delayed renewable energy projects that would
raise rates for consumers. (3)

Why?

Thanks
in part to the wind farm subsidies, Danes pay some of Europe's highest
energy tariffs-on average, more than twice those in Britain. (4)

In
Spain, 'green jobs' can require a subsidy of $1,000,000 per job.
Wind-related jobs in Denmark are subsidized at the rate of 175 to 250
percent above average pay, roughly costing taxpayers $90,000 to $140,000
for each 'green' employee. (5)

Spain increased its electricity
costs for households and small businesses 20% between January 2010 and
January 2011. The government's official explanation of this increase is
the huge bill for renewables' subsidies. Industry's electricity costs have
risen 110% and Spain has over 20% official unemployment.
(6)

Extreme green Ontario is experiencing rate hikes 50 times
greater than those countenanced in some US jurisdictions.
(3)

Summary

Green jobs cannot reduce
unemployment when they require significant government assistance. When the
President and Congress talk about green jobs, they are talking about ones
created via federal tax breaks, subsidies, or outright mandates. For
example, wind and solar- generated electricity already enjoy subsidies
nearly 50 times higher per unit of energy output than ordinary coal and
100 times higher than natural gas. (7)

Kenneth Green sums this up
quite well: "With $2.3 billion in Recovery Act tax credits allocated for
green manufacturers, President Obama and other Democratic politicians have
high hopes for green technology. But their expectations clash with both
economic theory and practical experience in Europe. Green programs in
Spain destroyed 2.2 jobs for every green job created, while the capital
needed for one green job in Italy could create almost five jobs in the
general economy. Wind and solar power have raised household energy prices
by 7.5 percent in Germany and Denmark has the highest electricity prices
in the European Union. Central planners in the United States trying to
promote green industry will fare no better at creating jobs or stimulating
the economy." (8)

References

1. Andrew
Orlowski, "Holland slashes carbon targets, shuns wind for nuclear," The
Register, February 2, 2011

2. P. Gosselin, "Arrivederci Solare!
Italy Pushes to Cut Solar Subsidies," notrickszone.com, March 7,
2011

3. Lawrence Solomon, "Green Collapse," Financial Post,
December 3, 2010

4. Andrew Gilligan, "An ill wind blows for
Denmark's green energy revolution," telegraph.co.uk, September 12,
2010

5. Ed Hiserodt, "Danish Wind Power Overblown," the
american.com, September 15, 2009

6. Gabriel Calzada Alvarez,
"Greenpeace Still Tilting at Windmills in Spain," Institute for Energy
Research, February 15, 2011

7. Ben Lieberman, "Green Jobs:
Environmental Red Tape Cancels Out Job Creation," The Heritage Foundation,
February 4, 2010

8. Kenneth P. Green, "The Myth of Green Energy
Jobs: the European Experience," American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy, February 2011

Jack Dini has been writing on science and
environmental issues for the past 13 years, publishing in places like
Hawaii Reporter, Environment & Climate News, American Council on
Science and Health and others.
Jack can be reached at:

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