On Friday, the Czech Republic denounced subsidies for clean but costly renewable energy and pledged to double down on its use of fossil fuels, writes Sean Carney in the Wall Street Journal.
“It followed Poland’s declaration that it would use its abundant domestic coal supplies for power generation rather than invest in costly renewable energy facilities.”
If renewables gave value for money and provided a reliable source of energy, this would not be happening. But the reality is these subsidy sinkholes are good for nothing but making landowners and renewables companies a huge amount of money, robbed from taxpayers and ever rising costs passed on to energy customers. But as Carney’s piece explains, there are other consequences to this ludicrous largesse.
“The Czech Republic has seen a surge in renewable power production over the last four years due to rich cash payouts for investors in the sector. Since then public outrage over fast-rising power prices has forced politicians to put the brakes on subsidies. The payouts have been a drag on the economy, creating uncertainty on energy markets and preventing utilities from investing.”
Other countries backing away:
- Spain abolished subsidies for photovoltaic power generation in July.
- The U.K.’s power markets regulator last month froze solar power subsidies for the rest of the year.
- Germany continues to build more coal fired power stations.
- Both the Czech Republic and Poland are reverting back to coal.
EU member states are rushing back for reliable and affordable energy sources, evidence that reversing the CO2 madness on energy can be done.
I hope they’re beginning to understand how they’ve been conned.
http://autonomousmind.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/reversing-the-co2-madness-on-energy-it-can-be-done/
Thanks to Sonya Porter for this link