Wind energy means subsidies, high costs
Express-Times | May 20, 2014 | www.lehighvalleylive.com
Manufacturing is returning to our nation because of the boom in natural gas production. It is time to understand that low-cost clean energy is a feel-good myth that has many negative effects.
I found it humorous that one writer complains about fracturing. She states her home uses wind power for electricity yet she compares the cost to coal-fired electricity. But since she chooses wind energy, let’s get the facts.
The U.S. government subsidizes 90 percent of the cost of installing wind power equipment. In 2012, taxpayers in five states that produce little to no wind energy paid more than $950 million in federal wind production tax subsidies. On a raw per unit of energy produced basis, subsidies for wind power are more than 200 times greater than those given to oil and gas. In Texas, which produces the most wind energy, upgrades to transmission lines to get wind energy to cities will cost every Texan $270.
In the United Kingdom, which under environmentalists’ pressure committed to wind power years ago, the results are high-cost electricity rates. In fact, the cost is so high that it is a major issue in UK elections.
The cost for electricity in the UK is 27.348 cents per kilowatt hour. Met-Ed charges me 7.7 cents. UK power consumers pay 351 percent more than I pay. One of the major cost drivers is subsidies that the UK government gives to the wind industry. So far this has cost UK electric consumers nearly $1.3 billion on their electric bills.
There are many other costs associated with wind energy production. We need the least expensive, least polluting and most reliable source of energy. Using current technology natural gas is it.
TOM FITZGERALD
Forks Township
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/05/20/wind-energy-means-subsidies-high-costs/