Courses

Benjamin Zycher

Resident Scholar

American Enterprise Institute

Benjamin Zycher is the John G. Searle Chair and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he works on energy and environmental policy. He is also a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute.

Blog Posts

Solar energy can’t survive without massive subsidies

October 30, 2016
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Lobbying & Special Interests

Notwithstanding the thunderous applause that solar photovoltaic (rooftop) power receives from enlightened opinion, it is not cost-competitive with conventional electricity, and cannot survive without massive subsidies. An army of lobbyists, commentators and bureaucrats has told us for years that rooftop power will be cost-competitive with conventional electricity very soon, if it is not already, and technically could provide over 38 percent of U.S. electricity generation. (The figure for 2015 was three-tenths of 1 percent.) At the same time, the same people argue that there should be no change