Over the past 10 years, wind, solar, nuclear, and fossil fuels have all received substantial federal subsidies—between $13 billion and $37 billion. Policy arguments about which energy sources receive more subsidies need to shift to how subsidies distort energy markets.
Key Points:
- Over the past 10 years, wind, solar, nuclear, and fossil fuels have all received substantial federal subsidies – between $13 billion and $37 billion.
- Wind has received 17 times and solar 75 times more subsidies per unit of electricity generated than the average for oil, gas, coal, and nuclear since 2010.
- While wind and solar have received more subsidies than other energy sources in recent years, debates about energy subsidies should not revolve around which resources receive more. The focus should be on how energy subsidies distort markets and why those distortions should be removed.
- Studies that show certain resources receiving far more subsidies than others, especially studies that report hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. energy subsidies, are relying on cherry-picked data or inflated definitions of subsidies.