The Trump administration insists that renewable energy sources make the energy more expensive and that the force fed by Al -Hawabir will reduce the utility bills. But these allegations are wrong – and if Republicans in Congress succeed in canceling the main tax credits that support clean energy growth, Americans will suffer from the consequences of higher electrical bills.
So he finds a Thursday report Through Think Tank Energy Innovation, warning legislators of the costs of canceling the tax credits for the clean energy created by the 2022 inflation law, the climate law signing the Biden Administration.
The fate of these tax credits It is still very uncertain. Some Republican lawmakers expressed their support to keep them in their place, but others criticized the incentives that could be shown Hundreds of billions of dollars To solar energy, wind energy, batteries, electric cars, and other carbon -free technologies over the next decade. President Donald Trump also pledged to cancel the Irish Republican army.
The main members of the Trump administration collected clean energy as a defeated distraction while praising fossil and coal gases. Last week, in an industrial event, Energy Minister Chris Wright said that the winds and diesel “have” it “Clear and cost -effective problems“They refused their horizons to serve more than a small part of the country’s needs in the country.
But the energy creativity report repeats the results from a series of studies over the past months that expect major negatives to cancel tax credits, including lost jobs, hundreds of billions of dollars in investment – and significantly expensive electricity for American companies and families.
Energy innovation
“We looked at the level of each case separately in energy bills as well as jobs and economic growth,” said Ruby Orfes, the director of modeling and energy analyzes. “In all fields, the Irish Republican army will make the most expensive for the regular family – and in some states in some states.”
The report has reported the electricity costs in the scenario – where the current incentives and federal financing are kept in place, and those that were canceled this year. Under the “cancellation” scenario, annual consumer energy bills will be higher than $ 6 billion for American families in 2030 and more than 9 billion dollars in 2035. Energy costs increase by $ 48 annually in 2030 and $ 68 a year in 2035, and continue to rise in the coming years.
Orfes said that some states will see relatively low increases. “But when you look at more than 2035, most families are more than $ 100 a year at power expenses.”
Results are compatible with other recent studies on the same topic.
Last month, the Brattle Group published a report, commissioned by the governor of the Conservative Group to preserve the environment, which found the cancellation of clean energy tax credits. Increase residential electricity bills The country is an average of $ 83 annually by 2035, and up to $ 152 annually in California, New England, and a lot of Middle West.
The NERA economic consultations in the February report commissioned the clean energy buyer group that cancels tax credits. Raise the average electricity prices in the United States Nearly 10 percent by 2029, and by more than 30 percent for commercial and industrial customers in some states.
Republican leaders have committed to cutting federal spending to pay for extension costs Billion dollars in tax reduction During the first Trump administration, which is first useful for wealthy companies and individuals. Clean energy incentives on the cutting block can be as a result, although they will cover a small part of the tax exemption only.
But most of the investment in clean energy facilities and factories stimulated by law were in the states and the Congress regions Representing the RepublicansIt is possible that the way to cancel the incentives of the law to reduce inflation clean energy is more difficult.
Last week, 21 members of the Republican Party conference wrote a letter Request for preservation These tax credits, saying they are decisive to develop the economy and achieve the Trump administration’s “energy dominance” agenda. They also warned against canceling them “will increase the utility bills the next day.”
Why clean energy is cheaper power
Orfes said the reason for canceling these tax credits would lead to increased costs. Solar energy and wind can provide us with power networks with electricity at a low cost in the long run from alternatives such as coal stations, gas and nuclear energy. The more built, the more expensive these resources can replace those resources.
Over the past decade, solar energy and wind energy have become The cheapest source of electricity generation Throughout the world, according to the International Energy Agency. The cost advantages were paid primarily through technological improvements and economies of production, as well Government subsidies played an important role.
In the United States, the newly built solar and wind farms can save energy at a cheaper rate than 99 percent The remaining coal plants in the country. Even fossil gas, the American network mare, struggles to compete with new clean energy. A study from Think Tank Rmi found that solar power portfolios, winds and batteries are associated with power efficiency investments Member’s needs at a lower cost One of the newly -running power plants.
Moreover, the cost of solar energy and wind energy are not related to fluctuations in the price of fossil gas, which has led to a significant increase in electricity prices in the past few years. Lack of fuel cost, along with low costs of operations and maintenance, makes wind and solar energy a long -term financial winner.
Energy developers and facilities follow money. Last year, Solar energy, batteries and winds make up more than 90 percent Of the 56 GB of Energy Energy Created in the United States, the US Energy Information Management predicts Building a power power plant And that The battery installation will break the records Again in 2025.
Wind and solar farms Do you cost more to build? From the equivalent gas stations, however. This makes the pace and size of its growth more dependent on the cost of the capital, which is affected by interest rates, and the incentives to reduce those costs provided. In the United States, the Act of Inflation has provided federal tax shipments that supported the industry for decades, providing the largest batch at one time to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while helping to finance cheaper electricity.
Reducing these tax credits would reduce growth and leave the country more dependent on the energy stations that fed the fossil that does not create emissions that calm the planet and pollution of harmful local air, but also cost American consumers more money. This would add approximately $ 20 billion of fuel, operations, and maintenance costs to US electricity prices annually in 2030 and 2035, according to Energy Innovation.
“Energy Emergency” – false claims in exchange for real solutions
The Trump administration has moved to the retreat of contracts from federal policy that seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, combat climate change, and environmental protection. He has also announced “National Energy Emergency“This throws renewable energy as a threat to the network’s federation and calls for the expanded use of fossil fuel as a solution.
Energy Minister Wright, a long -term executive official He denied that climate change is a crisisSolar energy and wind attacked him The main address In Cereweek by the World S&P Conference in Houston last week. He said: “Everywhere, winds and solar energy increased significantly, prices increased on the network and the stability of the network decreased.”
But this confirmation “does not affect the data at all,” said Orfes. High risk of network interruption and emergency situations Patured primarily with increasing weatherAnd it is linked to global warming. Although the variety of energy generation and solar energy is closely related to the weather, traditional power plants have proven that they are much less reliable than their supporters claimed, especially during the cold snapshots such as those that led to those that led The huge network interruption in Texas in 2021 and Through the United States, southeast of 2022.
As for the relationship of clean energy to the high prices of electricity, it is Energy Innovation Report last year He highlighted that the high costs of electrical facilities in recent years are linked not to renewable energy sources, but other factors, including nails in fossil gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and an increasing cost to expand and maintain energy networks.
A report issued last week from Think Tank Ember Data absence To link dependence on clean energy and electricity to benefit. “Some countries that have wind penetration and solar energy – such as Iowa, South Dakota and Kandas – have some of the lowest electricity prices in the country,” the report notes.
The report says that other countries that have aggressive delegations to clean energy, such as California and Massachusetts, have some of the most expensive electricity in the country. However, these costs are tarioly driven by infrastructure aging, “expensive fossil fuels” in the case of Massachusetts, or in California, “natural disasters damage” – that is. Huge costs for firesMany due to the failure of the utility network and investments that aim to prevent more of them.
On a wider scale, the cost of electrical utility service is primarily associated with increased investments in the utility and distribution networks and the cost of fuel to generate them, said Paul Decotis, the main partner at Consultance West Monroe. And “if people are concerned about the high cost of fuel, the federal government has allowed tax credits for decades for renewable energy, which leads to a decrease in the cost of electricity.”
In his speech at Cereweek, Wright also mocked the idea that winds, solar energy and batteries could completely replace fossil fuels to provide reliable clock generation. But the United States does not face this problem in the short term. Instead, you must build a new and quickly capacity to meet the increasing energy needs in the country – energy and clean batteries are the best in this situation, according to the analysts of the energy industry and executives.
The United States faces a The first prosperity crane in the request For electricity, driven by New data centers and factories In the short term, in the long term by pressing the shift from cars that fabrication to electric cars and building heating. A number of facilities suggest building Gigawatts from the new gas power plants to meet this request. But starting today, gas turbine manufacturers say they are unable to provide power plants who are not already planning until 2028 or 2029.
“If we are really in the energy security scenario and energy supply, this administration has talked about it, we will not be able to meet it with gas, because we took advantage of its construction,” Urvis said.
New solar energy, wind and batteries can be built at about half of that time, making it a vital solution in the near term for the increasing demand for energy, CEO of Nextera Energy John The New York Times was told In Cereweek, adding that “if you take and store the sources of energy, we will provide electricity prices to the moon.”
