Renewable energy continues to be championed by its supporters as a low-cost alternative to other energy options, but the final price tag may prove to be a financial disaster for taxpayers.
While lower natural gas prices in 2019 resulted in falling wholesale electricity costs in many parts of the country, according to the Energy Alliance in Texas, wholesale electricity prices increased 13% over the previous year, due in part by market fluctuations driven by renewal energy subsidies.
"Not only will renewables cost Texans billions, but they will harm reliability of the Texas grid – no matter how many batteries are included,” Bill Peacock, director of the Energy Alliance, told the Austin Journal. “If we keep going in this direction, Texas will soon surpass California as having the most unreliable electric grid in the U.S."
In a report, Peacock noted that over the last 15 years, local, state and federal renewal energy subsidies for wind and solar power generators in the state have totaled about $19.4 billion.
“Not only did Texans have to pay $3.1 billion for the electricity generated from renewable sources last year, they had to cover most of the cost of $2.4 billion in renewable energy subsidies that generators received,” he wrote in the summary of the report.
While detractors continue to tag renewable energy options as too costly, supporters continue to push for increased transmission to support wind and solar farms in the state.
“This ‘build it and they will come’ model worked so well that it caused our lines to be overloaded,” wrote Cyrus Reed, director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, in a blog post last year, according to the Dallas Morning News. “Many of us argued back in 2011 as lines were being built that they should have made them bigger from the beginning.”
The Texas Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (CREZ) lines may not have the capacity needed to please renewable energy supporters without a major investment to add additional transmission lines. Currently, the generators for wind and solar plants are located miles from where the power is needed. Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy noted in a report that the U.S. Department of Energy acknowledges that increasing investment in transmission infrastructure remains a challenge, facing a number of hurdles, including public opposition and regulatory issues resulting in extended delays.
It remains to be seen which side will prevail, and whether renewable energy costs can be held in line to make them a cost-effective option. According to pvtech, lawmakers on Capitol Hill will consider those costs to consumers and taxpayers in the federal budget reconciliation bill unveiled by the Ways and Means Committee, including a renewal of federal tax credits for wind and solar projects, which are currently scheduled to expire. It would extend them for a decade.
However, the Dallas Morning News reported that as renewable energy continues to grow, the subsidies for them will cost Texas consumers and taxpayers billions. Those costs topped $2 billion in 2020, according to the news outlet.