Time and again we read of big solar power projects that supposedly “light the way” to our nation’s energy future. But less attention is paid to the vast taxpayer subsidies used to prop up so many of those projects.
A big solar power plant in Jackson, Tenn., has just started operating. The cost to build the solar “farm” is about $5 million. But that includes a hefty $1.5 million from the federal government — meaning taxpayers.
Would there really be lots of energy cost savings from the solar farm if its owners had to pay the full tab for building it? Doesn’t the federal subsidy just shuffle costs from electricity rate-payers onto taxpayers?
We need a free, competitive energy market in which neither solar nor wind nor coal nor oil nor other power sources are subsidized.
Let them compete fairly — and may the best energy sources win!