The recent headlines from Spain provide a stark contrast that should make advocates of renewable energy pause. On April 22, 2025, PV Magazine celebrated, stating, “Spain hits first weekday of 100% renewable power on national grid.” Just a week later, the same publication reported, “Spain’s nationwide blackout leaves millions in the dark, cause still unclear.”
Delgado Rigal, CEO of AleaSoft Energy Forecasting, remarked that the Spanish grid is designed for turbine systems and works on a rotational scheme. This can cause issues when integrating renewables. He tries not to lay the fault squarely on renewable sources, but the timing of the incidents raises questions. It’s widely understood that sources like wind and solar depend heavily on weather conditions, which can be unpredictable. So, when the weather doesn’t cooperate, energy production can drop.
Moreover, the technology to store wind and solar energy isn’t fully developed. As a result, there are times when these sources generate more energy than the grid requires and other times when they fall short.
A telling example is Texas, which suffered extensive power outages in the winter of 2021. While various factors contributed to the failures, a lack of wind combined with frozen turbines meant wind energy wasn’t able to support the grid.
Beyond production issues, renewable energy also presents economic challenges. Programs like the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC) compensate renewable energy companies per kilowatt-hour produced, regardless of whether that electricity is actually needed. This can lead to economic issues—when wind energy surges, it can result in oversupply, causing prices to drop so much that they go negative. In such cases, energy companies can actually pay the grid to take their energy while still remaining profitable, largely due to subsidies.
Additionally, the cost of producing wind and solar energy often exceeds that of coal and nuclear power. For instance, wind energy is around $65 per megawatt hour, while nuclear is about $41 and coal is roughly $33. Even with tax credits, wind energy remains more expensive. Without those credits, the cost skyrockets to $72 per megawatt hour, which is significantly more than coal.
If it weren’t for government intervention, primarily through tax incentives, the renewable energy sector could struggle to survive. It’s hard to see how a company that essentially has to pay consumers to take their product could remain viable—that’s the dilemma facing renewable energy.
This raises an important question: Is it wise to use taxpayer funds to support an industry that lacks reliability and sustainability? A recent estimate suggests the U.S. government spent $31.4 billion on renewable energy in 2024, with projections indicating this could reach $421 billion from 2025 to 2034.
Moreover, artificially supporting the renewable energy industry tends to disadvantage traditional energy sources, which do not benefit from such subsidies. They can’t sell surplus energy at a loss, which creates an uneven playing field. So, what happens if these traditional industries are pushed out? It seems the situation in Spain might give us a glimpse of that potential future.
As Congress considers reconciliation bills, it may be time to reassess the PTC and ITC. Continuing to pour funds into an industry that cannot stand on its own could lead to taxpayers being stuck with indefinite subsidies for subpar products.
