Wind Power Subsidies Don’t Compare to Fossil Fuel & Nuclear Subsidies

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fossil fuel renewable energy subsidies

Subsidies is a complicated topic, but I think it’s quite clear that wind power’s subsidies don’t compare to those given to the fossil fuel or nuclear industries. Before we get into looking at subsidies for these energy sources, though, here’s a good summary of what energy subsidies can include from Wikipedia:

  • Direct financial transfers – grants to producers; grants to consumers; low-interest or preferential loans to producers.
  • Preferential tax treatments – rebates or exemption on royalties, duties, producer levies and tariffs; tax credit; accelerated depreciation allowances on energy supply equipment.
  • Trade restrictions – quota, technical restrictions and trade embargoes.
  • Energy-related services provided by government at less than full cost – direct investment in energy infrastructure; public research and development.
  • Regulation of the energy sector – demand guarantees and mandated deployment rates; price controls; market-access restrictions; preferential planning consent and controls over access to resources.
  • Failure to impose external costs – environmental externality costs; energy security risks and price volatility costs.[2]
  • Depletion Allowance – allows a deduction from gross income of up to ~27% for the depletion of exhaustible resources (oil, gas, minerals).

Quite a lot to cover. I could never cover all of these topics myself, and certainly not in a blog post, but I’m going to cover some of the big ones that have already been covered in greater detail by researchers.

Clearly, combining all subsidies and coming up with a standardized comparison is not a possibility here, but I think a general, overview comparison is helpful.

Additionally, what I include on the following pages is just on the U.S. (our main audience), but feel free to chime in on other countries if you have the info and feel free to contact me about writing up a full article on the matter.

I know we have tons of informed readers on here and am more than happy to incorporate info you have on this matter. Have started pasting in excellent comments that help fill gaps in the original text (with a note, of course). Give me more info! This is a ‘living article’.

<<— Page 1: Intro

—>> Page 3: Info on Big Oil, Coal, & Nuclear Subsidies

—>> Page 4: Info on Wind Subsidies & Summary


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Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

Zachary Shahan has 7317 posts and counting. See all posts by Zachary Shahan