Does the Wall Street Journal employ anyone who understands energy markets?
Actually, I think they do. I think Keith Johnson knows quite a bit about energy markets. Which makes this hit job on solar subsidies, published before the Senate considers national renewable energy legislation, so disturbing. After chronicling the problems of the Spanish solar industry, the article goes on to say: “Clean-energy skeptics, however, point to Spain as a cautionary tale of a government policy that created a speculative bubble with disastrous consequences. Some Republicans have cited Spain’s solar bubble and bust as an example of how unsustainable government clean-energy pushes are … California and New Jersey, which lead the U.S. in solar power, are among states that have used subsidies similar to the ones in Spain to make solar power more attractive” This is in fact incorrect. Spain used a singular policy, a fixed price, standard offer contract known as a feed-in tariff. California, on the other hand, has several different policy mechanisms, and each one is market-based.
