| From your reference: "Last week saw the announcement of the world’s first “subsidy-free” offshore windfarm, the 750 megawatt (MW) Hollandse Kust Zuid scheme, due to be built by 2022 off the coast of the Netherlands, by Swedish state-backed utility Vattenfall." I know that we are living in a time where words don't actually mean what they used to, but even here it is a stretch. See how they use quotes between the term "subsidy-free"? It's because the money comes from a Sweden state-backed company. Where do you think that money comes from? The profits that the government generates from the value they product? No. It comes from taxpayers. A couple of paragraphs below: "These include a 650MW onshore windfarm at Markbygden in Sweden. Set to be the largest onshore scheme in Europe, it is under construction and due to be completed by the end of 2019. In November, aluminium firm Norsk Hydro agreed to buy a fixed amount of electricity from the windfarm for 19 years." Hummm...so there is a company that promised to buy the energy from this other company for 19 years. Can we see the terms of the deal? As far as I can tell, this is all subsided somehow. If not directly, into the new plant, indirectly through tax-breaks for the buyers of the energy. Last excerpt: "At its simplest, subsidy-free means deployment without government-mandated support in the form of the types of scheme mentioned above. So, for example, without a FiT or CfD. On this measure, almost all of the projects listed above would count as subsidy-free." A few more paragraphs below they even recognize that this is not subsidy-free. If you keep going down the article, there is more admission about what they mean by "subsidy-free" and it's not what everyone who reads the headlines thinks it is. |
In the past the only way that solar and wind were economical was if the state covering part of the cost of the energy created - so the company could sell at x cents a unit and the govt would pay a proportion of that or a fixed amount per unit, agreed before the plant came online.
The state owning an energy production company is a different thing and is relatively common in Europe.
Also - do you know how much nearly all govt subsidise all engery suppliers? Coal, gas and nuclear? It is huge! I'll find some stats, but nuclear couldn't exist without massive subsidies and without the state picking up the cost of decommissioning. Even gas and coal get major breaks and deals - these are just the price that states pay for power (yes even in the US).
The aluminium company buying energy options again is not that unusual - I agree understanding if there are tax breaks would be good, but I wouldn't assume there are until I saw it documented.