The Center for the American Experiment has released a study exploring the practicalities and constraints of a power grid with significant levels of renewable energy generation. The study identifies three key issues that proponents of renewable energy have yet to address.
According to the center's research, renewable energy cannot sustain itself independently. "The renewable energy industry is a subsidy-based industry, as wind and solar are largely dependent on lucrative state and federal subsidies," assert the authors of the study, Mitch Rolling and Isaac Orr. The paper delves into the distribution of federal subsidies among various energy sources in 2022, revealing that "wind and solar generators received three and eighteen times more subsidies per MWh, respectively, than natural gas, coal, and nuclear generators combined. Solar is the clear leader, receiving anywhere from $50 to $80 per MWh over the last five years, whereas wind is a distant second at $8 to $10 per MWh."
The center's report also indicates that renewable energy is driving up electricity costs for Americans. "We calculated the hidden costs of wind and solar on a 100 percent carbon-free electric grid in Minnesota in our 2022 report and found that serving a MWh of load with new wind would cost $272 per MWh, and new solar would cost $472 per MWh, compared to $39.60, $31.45, and $46.52 per MWh for existing coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants, respectively," Orr explained.
Another conclusion drawn by the center pertains to the correlation between increased market penetration of renewables and blackouts. According to Rolling: "As more wind and solar generators are placed on a grid, it becomes more vulnerable to rolling blackouts because states or regions tend to neglect the importance of dispatchable generators in their fleet to focus on wind and solar." He further added that these areas often decommission coal or nuclear plants in favor of less reliable natural gas.
Texas, in particular, has faced significant grid reliability issues as its proportion of renewables has grown over recent years. A 2022 study by the Energy Alliance linked the state's reliability problems to intervention and renewables. The study stated: "For two straight years the grid has struggled to keep the lights on, despite promises that 'everything that needed to be done was done to fix the power grid in Texas' after the 2021 blackouts." The Energy Alliance further attributed the decline in reliability of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to "the politicization of the Texas electricity market—particularly the push for renewable energy—and the resulting collapse of competition in the market."
