(The Center Square) – The Trump administration is ending preferential treatment for “unreliable” solar and wind energy, and the director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment at The Heritage Foundation is welcoming the move.
Director Diana Furchtgott-Roth told The Center Square that solar and wind are more costly forms of energy due to the need for backups.
“Solar and wind are reliable when the sun shines and the wind blows, but this does not happen all the time,” Furchtgott-Roth said. This makes backups necessary, “which adds to the cost of providing electricity from these sources.”
These backups as well as the fact that “connecting solar and wind to the grid is costly,” means “states that require solar and wind in their energy mix have higher electricity prices,” Furchtgott-Roth said.
“Higher electricity costs add to inflation and discourage manufacturing,” Furchtgott-Roth said.
As an example of higher electricity prices, Furchtgott-Roth told The Center Square that in 2024, “the cost of electricity in California was 32 cents per kilowatt hour, but it was 11 cents an hour in Utah, which does not require renewables.”
Furchtgott-Roth also told The Center Square about the impact solar and wind energy have on the environment.
“Solar and wind energy take more land to produce a unit of energy than does natural gas, and so land cannot be used for other purposes,” Furchtgott-Roth said. “Wind turbines kill birds.”
These reasons are “why communities across the country are voicing concerns, objecting to large-scale wind and solar developments that disrupt local land use, strain water resources, and alter rural landscapes,” Furchtgott-Roth said.
Furchtgott-Roth additionally mentioned to The Center Square that “components for wind turbines and solar panels are produced in China using coal-fired power plants and often forced labor.”
Furchtgott-Roth was responding to the Department of the Interior announcing Thursday that preferential treatment for solar and wind energy will be ending.
“By removing these artificial advantages, the Department is levelling the playing field for dispatchable, cost-effective and secure energy sources, such as clean coal and domestic natural gas, after years of assault under the previous administration,” a news release from Interior said.
“These actions mark a return to common-sense permitting standards that support national security, grid stability and American job creation.”
The Department of the Interior’s actions are in line with Trump’s Energy Dominance agenda and follows the signing of the executive order “Ending Market Distorting Subsidies for Unreliable, Foreign-Controlled Energy Sources” as well as the passing of the “big beautiful bill,” the release said.
“As part of this effort, the Department will address provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to eliminate longstanding right-of-way and capacity fee discounts for existing and future wind and solar projects, bringing an end to years of subsidies for economically unviable energy development,” the release said.
Acting Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals Management Adam Suess said in the release that the department’s actions “further deliver on President Trump’s promise to tackle the Green New Scam and protect the American taxpayers’ dollars.”
“American Energy Dominance is driven by U.S.-based production of reliable baseload energy, not regulatory favoritism towards unreliable energy projects that are solely dependent on taxpayer subsidies and foreign-sourced equipment,” Suess said.
The department explained that “all Department-related decisions and actions concerning wind and solar energy facilities will undergo elevated review by the Office of the Secretary, including leases, rights-of-way, construction and operation plans, grants, consultations and biological opinions.”
“This enhanced oversight will ensure all evaluations are thorough and deliberative,” according to the release.
Those displeased with the Department of the Interior’s actions to end preferential treatment of wind and solar energy include the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), a group dedicated to “clean energy.”
When reached, ACORE referred The Center Square to a news release in which its president and CEO, Ray Long, said that “the only viable way to meet” the energy demand “reliably and affordably is by building all technologies, including wind and solar.”
“Moves like this inject new uncertainty throughout the entire energy sector, driving up costs for American homes and businesses, and leading to energy shortages, all within the next few years,” Long said.
