Does wind power use subsidies and is very costly to produce?
Wind Energy is very competitive with fossil sources of generation. For example in the Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by Ministry of Energy in Ontario in 2004, the average fixed price contract for wind energy for a 20 year term was 8cents/kWh, while the average fixed price contract for gas fired generation for the 20 year term was 7.5cents/kWh. All forms of generation receive some form of subsidy. For example the coal and gas industry gets tax breaks and no accounting of the societal cost of pollution caused. Nuclear industry’s cost of insurance and loan guarantees is underwritten by the government, not to mention that most forms of existing generation had been paid for by stranded debt to taxpayers which is paid for by several generations. So yes, wind receives an incentive of 1cent/kWh as its contribution to society, wind projects are ammortized over 20 years, are not financed or risked at tax payers money and do not produce stranded debt for tax payers.
