Opinion: Clean energy also means cheap energy | News, sports, work

photo: He contributed

Fromy Harrop

Donald Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” mantra presents fossil fuels as the magic bullet to lower energy prices. He is exactly wrong. Solar, wind and other renewable energy sources are available.

Renewable energy sources already provide consumers in Europe with electricity that is so cheap that it is sometimes free, according to The Wall Street Journal, a decidedly unsocialist news source. These are the rewards of Europe’s green energy revolution, boosted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sent oil prices soaring.

Example from the Netherlands: Jeroen van Diesen can get free energy depending on whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing, especially when energy demand is low. Sometimes the price actually drops below zero. Van Diesen says he made about $34 over the last five months by charging his car when the price turned negative.

“Wholesale prices fluctuate wildly every hour of the day,” notes The Journal. And as more electricity flows from wind and solar installations, the price could fall to negative levels. In other words, prices may plummet.

The wholesale price in the Netherlands remains at or below zero 8% of the year. In Spain this happens in 12% of cases.

Most of us in the United States pay a fixed price for electricity set by our utility company. However, in much of Europe you can sign up with suppliers who charge hourly rates on the wholesale energy market.

Europe has also focused on alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar energy, whose production costs are minimal. Last year, 44% of electricity in the European Union was produced from renewable sources, compared to just 21% in the US

In Europe, energy freaks have set up smart meters in their homes so that when the price of electricity drops, their cars will automatically start charging. Producers have found ways to send cheap energy to gas tanks that act as virtual batteries.

The Biden administration is overseeing massive investments in wind, solar, electric and energy storage. These grants cost money, but so do most initial investments. As Europe has shown, these expenditures can ultimately bring significant returns to the economy.

So what are Trump’s plans for a green energy future? Well, Trump has vowed – Lord give me the strength – to focus on offshore wind projects. “They’re killing whales,” he shouts, which marine biologists say is nonsense. The Project 2025 plan for Trump’s next term assumes the cessation of all subsidies promoting the development of renewable energy, which – it should be added – is also clean energy.

During the debate with Harris, Trump targeted renewable energy with another lie about Germany returning to fossil fuels. A spokesman for the German Ministry of Economy rejected this nonsense. “We already generate more than half of our electricity from renewable sources,” he said. “In 2030 it will be 80 percent.”

Real-time pricing combined with renewable energy would be great for the United States, especially sunny California and the windy Great Plains. U.S. regulators are reluctant to allow customers to use such plans after a rare winter storm in Texas in 2021 caused wholesale prices to temporarily spike. Some are reconsidering it.

In Southern California, wholesale prices are negative nearly 20% of the year thanks to the region’s boom in solar installations. California has started a pilot program offering real-time pricing.

Frankly, the total electricity bill would not be zero because generation, transmission and distribution costs remain. But boy, they could be much, much closer to zero.

So what will it be, American consumers? The future of clean energy is also the future of cheap energy, and only Harris wants to take us there.

—Froma Harrop is a contributing columnist for Creators.