{"id":275683,"date":"2023-08-26T16:43:52","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T14:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=275683"},"modified":"2023-08-26T16:43:55","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T14:43:55","slug":"dont-believe-the-renewables-myth-wind-and-solar-are-not-cheap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=275683","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t believe the renewables myth. Wind and solar are not\u00a0cheap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

h\/t Philip Bratby<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Required reading for AEP, methinks!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Telegraph:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Politicians everywhere are repeating the mantra that renewable energy is cheap, and we need to use it instead of gas (currently expensive in and near Europe) to bring down energy costs for households.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As US President Joe Biden said of clean energy before signing the poetically named Executive Actions on Tackling Climate Change, Creating Jobs, and Restoring Scientific Integrity \u201cit\u2019s affordable; because it\u2019s clean; because, in many cases, it\u2019s cheaper\u2026 [clean technologies] will ultimately become cheaper than any other kind of energy, helping us dramatically expand our economy and create more jobs with a cleaner, cleaner environment\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0<\/em>Inflation Reduction Act<\/em><\/a>\u00a0has been designed to make this a reality. Lots of investment in lovely green energy and green jobs. This sounds wonderful.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, renewables are not cheap.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To demonstrate, let\u2019s carry out a thought experiment\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine you build a machine. It\u2019s very expensive to build, but once it\u2019s done, it makes Things. These Things are identical in every way to Things made by other people. Making Things is very cheap: the machine runs on wind\/sun\/water and has no fuel costs, and no raw materials are required. Making Things is essentially free once you have built the machine. What will you charge to sell your Things?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Normally you would want to recover the cost of building the machine and make some profit. Ten years is reasonable to recover capital costs, so you work out how many Things you will make over ten years and spread the cost plus some profit between them. After ten years, you\u2019re happy to more or less give the Things away, selling them for a minimal amount.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s the rub. Down the road is another Thing factory that was built eleven years ago, whose upfront costs have already been recovered. Those Things are being sold for next to nothing. Who is going to buy your Things now unless you also charge next to nothing? But if you do that, you can\u2019t pay back the money invested in building your machine. That means that unless you can earn money from something other than selling Things, you will never build your factory in the first place.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the electricity market, we get round that problem with subsidies. Originally, subsidies were paid because the technology for producing renewable electricity was immature meaning upfront costs were exceptionally high, but after more than 20 years of subsidies, this is no longer the case. Today, electricity prices are still determined for the most part by the cost of fossil fuels, so renewable electricity can be sold at much higher prices than the short term cost of production (which is next to nothing). But even then,\u00a0<\/em>renewables still require subsidies<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, subsidies are growing. According to the Energy Information Administration, renewable subsidies in the US jumped to $15.6 billion in fiscal year 2022 from $7.4 billion in fiscal year 2016. In Britain, last year\u2019s subsidy round was hailed as the cheapest and best, but the projects which bid have for the most part stalled as developers ask for more money, despite the high market price of electricity. Only two projects have confirmed they will go ahead and begun construction, while Vattenfall cancelled its Boreas project in the North Sea and \u00d8rsted has warned that Hornsea 3 could be at risk without Government action<\/strong> \u201cto maintain the attractiveness of the investment environment\u201d, saying it is working \u201cvery hard\u201d to make the project financially viable but that the electricity prices offered by the Government are not high enough to compensate for surging development costs.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If projects are not economic when electricity prices are at record highs, how will they work if a time comes when electricity prices are very low?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the dirty little secret of the renewables game. The very high upfront costs mean developers have to be paid lots of money, and if the money from selling electricity isn\u2019t enough then it has to come from elsewhere. But ultimately it comes out of consumers\u2019 pockets, whether directly through higher bills, or indirectly through higher taxes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not all. Developed countries built their electricity grids decades ago when electricity came from a few large power stations. Renewable generation is built where it\u2019s windy\/sunny or has good access to water at height or moving fast (for hydro). These places tend to be not where old power stations used to be or where consumers are. This means lots of new infrastructure is needed to connect it all up. Guess who has to pay for that?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next is the issue of intermittency: wind and sun vary from moment to moment. Individual clouds make a measurable difference to generation, as do gusts of wind. This creates two additional challenges \u2013 one is that if there\u2019s no wind or sun, renewable output falls \u2013 the famous California \u201cduck curve\u201d measures the way solar output changes through the day with a major drop at sunset, when gas power stations need to take over.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other sources of generation (<\/em>there is no at-scale energy storage solution<\/em><\/a>) have to be on standby to run when renewable output falls. But no-one builds standby anything unless it\u2019s worth their while \u2013 and that\u2019s another big chunk of change consumers have to cough up.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other problem with intermittency is that electricity grids need supply and demand to be finely balanced in real time. Grid equipment can be damaged if this balance is not maintained within narrow tolerances. If clouds and gusts of wind change supply from moment to moment, grid operators have to use a range of techniques such as discharging batteries, getting conventional power stations to vary output, or large users to vary consumption, over short timeframes. Unsurprisingly, nobody does any of this for free. Another cost to consumers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final sting in the tail is that the grid infrastructure,despite expansion to cope with renewables, often can\u2019t use all the renewable electricity generated. This electricity is wasted, and the renewable generators have to be compensated through \u201ccurtailment\u201d or \u201ccongestion\u201d fees, again paid for by consumers. According to consulting firm Grid Strategies, costs to consumers from congestion on the US power grid jumped 56 per cent in 2022 to an estimated $20.8 billion from $13.3 billion the year before. In Britain, data from the UK Wind Curtailment Monitor show that consumers paid \u00a3125 million in 2022 to turn windfarms off and \u00a3717 million to buy replacement gas-fired generation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if the wholesale price of electricity fell to zero to reflect the short-run marginal cost of producing renewable electricity, the price paid by consumers would simply be more disconnected from the wholesale price than it is today. Consumers pay the wholesale price, plus a network cost (including congestion costs), plus a balancing cost, plus a subsidy cost, plus the retailer\/supplier operating costs, plus some profits for everyone in the chain from the generator to the network owner to the network operator to the retailer. And then some taxes on top.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to hit net zero the whole electrical system \u2013 expanded renewables, expanded grid, backup fossil, balancing, subsidies, curtailment payments and all \u2013 will have to be expanded to multiple times its current size, as fossil fuels used directly in such things as heating and transport are replaced with electricity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who thinks all this is going to mean cheaper energy is dreaming. With respect, Mr President.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2023\/08\/25\/renewables-wind-solar-energy-cheap\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Politicians everywhere are repeating the mantra that renewable energy is cheap, and we need to use it instead of gas (currently expensive in and near Europe) to bring down energy costs for households.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":275691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691819627,691818576,691822104,691818299,691819121],"class_list":{"0":"post-275683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-clean-energy","9":"tag-inflation-reduction-act","10":"tag-renewables-myth","11":"tag-subsidies","12":"tag-wind-and-solar-power","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-977.png?fit=1920%2C1005&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-19Iv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":434989,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=434989","url_meta":{"origin":275683,"position":0},"title":"Renewables Are Cheap Myth","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/03\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I have long been meaning to address the myth that renewables provide the cheapest electricity. This myth has achieved \u201ceverybody knows that\u201d status which means that a rebuttal must have strong supporting arguments. A series of articles at the Science of Doom blog by Steve Carson explains why this myth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"cheap electricity\"","block_context":{"text":"cheap electricity","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=cheap-electricity"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AQNHl9AKaUujnp_oKefu2SSDZXqj5kkKnpsg2QUx1mG9gJiWTdguYjXMjVIa4vDgyWpjb0eadWQTVMvjaIrrOSiDo6A8U0tP3foiGqRpDmQ-EIlH29q2AYMajvpHZF9wJy_ZLSIM_tJ0TKAcwD65T_m0BEvRig-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AQNHl9AKaUujnp_oKefu2SSDZXqj5kkKnpsg2QUx1mG9gJiWTdguYjXMjVIa4vDgyWpjb0eadWQTVMvjaIrrOSiDo6A8U0tP3foiGqRpDmQ-EIlH29q2AYMajvpHZF9wJy_ZLSIM_tJ0TKAcwD65T_m0BEvRig-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AQNHl9AKaUujnp_oKefu2SSDZXqj5kkKnpsg2QUx1mG9gJiWTdguYjXMjVIa4vDgyWpjb0eadWQTVMvjaIrrOSiDo6A8U0tP3foiGqRpDmQ-EIlH29q2AYMajvpHZF9wJy_ZLSIM_tJ0TKAcwD65T_m0BEvRig-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AQNHl9AKaUujnp_oKefu2SSDZXqj5kkKnpsg2QUx1mG9gJiWTdguYjXMjVIa4vDgyWpjb0eadWQTVMvjaIrrOSiDo6A8U0tP3foiGqRpDmQ-EIlH29q2AYMajvpHZF9wJy_ZLSIM_tJ0TKAcwD65T_m0BEvRig-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AQNHl9AKaUujnp_oKefu2SSDZXqj5kkKnpsg2QUx1mG9gJiWTdguYjXMjVIa4vDgyWpjb0eadWQTVMvjaIrrOSiDo6A8U0tP3foiGqRpDmQ-EIlH29q2AYMajvpHZF9wJy_ZLSIM_tJ0TKAcwD65T_m0BEvRig-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":336654,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=336654","url_meta":{"origin":275683,"position":1},"title":"The Big \u2018Renewable\u2019 Energy Lie: Not Cheap, Not Clean, Not\u00a0Green","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"16\/07\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Even the proles have worked out that wind and solar aren\u2019t cheap, they aren\u2019t clean and they most certainly aren\u2019t green. Their rocketing power bills are enough evidence to dispose of the \u2018cheap\u2019 wind and solar myth. Millions of tonnes of spent solar panels and toxic wind turbine blades being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Australian economy\"","block_context":{"text":"Australian economy","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=australian-economy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-hydrogen-hype.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-hydrogen-hype.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-hydrogen-hype.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-hydrogen-hype.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-hydrogen-hype.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":192662,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=192662","url_meta":{"origin":275683,"position":2},"title":"No Nonsense Solution: Nuclear Ultimate Answer to Powering an Energy Hungry World","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"21\/03\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Nothing focuses thinking on energy policy like not having heat, light and power on tap. With Europe now hostage to its aggressive Eastern neighbour \u2013 thanks to a maniacal obsession with intermittent wind and solar and the need to back it up with oil and gas \u2013 policy wonks of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0Screenshot-2022-03-21-105121.png?fit=1025%2C637&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0Screenshot-2022-03-21-105121.png?fit=1025%2C637&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0Screenshot-2022-03-21-105121.png?fit=1025%2C637&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/0Screenshot-2022-03-21-105121.png?fit=1025%2C637&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":324134,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=324134","url_meta":{"origin":275683,"position":3},"title":"Guardian: Politicians \u201cPropagated the Myth\u201d that Renewables are Easy","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"27\/04\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"If you fell for the government propaganda that renewables are the cheapest form of energy, the Guardian will help set you straight.","rel":"","context":"In \"climate propaganda\"","block_context":{"text":"climate propaganda","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-propaganda"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/OIG-81.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/OIG-81.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/OIG-81.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/OIG-81.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":370107,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=370107","url_meta":{"origin":275683,"position":4},"title":"Bogus myths created to promote renewables","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"15\/03\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"So-called renewable energy is ONLY intermittently generated ELECTRICITY from renewables, as wind turbines and solar panels CANNOT make any products or fuels for the various transportation industries.","rel":"","context":"In \"clean energy\"","block_context":{"text":"clean energy","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=clean-energy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0renewable-energy-bg.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0renewable-energy-bg.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0renewable-energy-bg.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0renewable-energy-bg.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0renewable-energy-bg.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":225592,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=225592","url_meta":{"origin":275683,"position":5},"title":"Don\u2019t Believe the Hype: Exposing Staggering Cost of Subsidised Wind & Solar \u201aTransition \u2018","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"25\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"There\u2019s only one problem with the claim that wind and solar are cheap; that would be the evidence.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/0517_large.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/0517_large.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/0517_large.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/0517_large.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/0517_large.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=275683"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275692,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275683\/revisions\/275692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/275691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=275683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=275683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=275683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}