Wind power generation land subsidy

What is a federal subsidy for wind?

The primary federal subsidy for wind is a tax credit known as the production tax credit, or PTC, which offers wind facilities and some other renewables a small tax credit for every kilowatt hour of energy produced over a farm’s first decade.

How reliant is the wind industry on subsidies?

Experts have differing assessments of that. In the U.S., subsidies have played an important role in building the wind industry, which has grown from supplying almost none of the nation’s electricity in 2000 to almost 7% in 2018. But when it comes to how reliant the industry is on subsidies today, analysts disagree.

How much will wind power cost without subsidies in 2021?

The EIA, which produces LCOE figures for future years, estimated in February that for wind facilities coming online in 2021, the average cost without subsidies would be $48.80/MWh when weighting by capacity. That’s compared with $46.70 for conventional natural gas and $40.50 for advanced natural gas (see Table A1a).

How much money does the federal government spend on wind power?

There are other federal subsidies that go to wind power, including about $24 million for research and development in 2016, per the Energy Information Administration. But as a University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute analysis found, the vast majority of federal investment in wind stems from the PTC.

Does wind work without subsidies?

President Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned the economics of wind energy, saying that wind “doesn’t work” without subsidies. Experts have differing assessments of that.

How much does wind energy cost?

According to the latest market reports from the U.S. Department of Energy Wind Energy Technologies Office, capital expenditures for: Land-based wind energy was about $1,200 to $1,800 per kilowatt (kW), roughly equal to costs in the early 2000s after a 40% dip from a 2009 peak. Offshore wind energy was about $3,500/kW to $4,000/kW.