[Frank]

Sorry for the off-topic query...

A lot of the rhetoric I hear is that industrial wind turbine projects are only successful because of the large amount of government money interjected in the projects. Does anyone have any data on this? The only thing I can find shows that renewable energy projects get a small portion of the money allocated towards energy projects in general. I'm looking for something with more detail.

tia

[Tanada]

I actually believe the exact opposite to be the case so I too would welcome any actual studies that have been done on 'true' costs vs benefits of a large wind farm. Several have been built in the midwest and I have visited one small one.

[Frank]

The only thing I was able to find was reference to a GAO report that studied government incentives related to electricity production; it estimated that between 2002 - 2007 about $13.7B was provided to fossil fuels and $2.8B to renewables, without a breakdown. I can't find that reference in my bookmarks right now.

I also found this (see page 2): http://aire-nc.org/docs/Subsidy.pdf

[Ludi]

Are there any large energy projects that are successful without government incentives? Aren't all large energy projects funded or incentivized to a greater or lesser degree?

Think about the oil companies such as Exxon, being given guvmint money and not having to pay taxes, etc. Would they be as successful without this kind of support? Coal also.