Renewable Energy Subsidies & Fossil Fuel Phase-Out

The Indian government is reportedly considering the partial reform of fertilizer subsidies in an effort to reign back its fiscal deficit.

On 8 January, the Crown Estate, the body which manages Britain's sovereign lands, announced the names of the companies who have successfully bid for the right to build giant offshore wind farms in nine zones established around the UK.

The European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) has released a report criticizing the European Union's biofuels policy, Green Protectionism in the European Union: How Europe's Biofuels Policy and the Renewable Energy Directive Violate WTO Commitments.

According to an investigative report published on 31 October by Harry Esteve in The Oregonian newspaper, the administration of Ted Kulongoski, Oregon's Governor, intentionally underestimated the true cost of a tax credit created to subsidize renewable energy, in order to get it passed by the State Legislature. The Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC), was introduced in order to attract green investments to the State.

A feed-in electricity tariff is a policy mechanism used in many countries to support renewable energy technologies until they can compete with other methods of generating electricity.

According to the Associated Press, an energy expert with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, Michel Fuchs, has announced that the next German government will consider reducing subsidies to solar energy producers, perhaps as early as 2010. Apparently, the most successful technologies are those which will see the greatest reduction in support.

On 3 September 2009, the Jakarta Post newspaper announced the latest development in Indonesia’s long struggle with energy subsidization: spending will increase, again. Two decisions seem to have been made in close succession.

A new report by the Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) quantifies government support for biofuels in Canada, and analyzes whether this expenditure represents good value for Canadian taxpayers. Biofuels – At What Cost?