According to Kate Gordon, a Wall Street Journal writer, the subsidy debate is heating up as renewable energy costs hit a historic low, as wind, solar and biomass farms are already cost-competitive with most conventional fossil fuels. The subsidies have been an important part of President Obama’s climate change legacy, but they were also one reason why he was unable to get Congress to pass his cap-and-trade bill in 2009. Gordon says that low carbon technologies are still working with an infrastructure built for fossil fuels; new companies building new energy sources need to build their own infrastructure, which is factored into the cost.
According to Kate Gordon, a Wall Street Journal writer, the subsidy debate is heating up as renewable energy costs hit a historic low, as wind, solar and biomass farms are already cost-competitive with most conventional fossil fuels. However, given prices of some renewable sources are now competitive, many critics argue that subsidies are no longer needed to fund these projects. Gordon says that low carbon technologies are still working with an infrastructure built for fossil fuels; new companies building new energy sources need to build their own infrastructure, which is factored into the cost.