https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/04/24/wind-solar-mandates-are-a-costly-fail-reports-university-of-chicago-study/
Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) are the largest and perhaps most
popular climate policy in the US, having been enacted by 29 states and
the District of Columbia. Using the most comprehensive panel data set
ever compiled on program characteristics and key outcomes, we compare
states that did and did not adopt RPS policies, exploiting the
substantial di↵erences in timing of adoption. The estimates indicate
that 7 years after passage of an RPS program, the required renewable
share of generation is 1.8 percentage points higher and average retail
electricity prices are 1.3 cents per kWh, or 11% higher; the comparable
figures for 12 years after adoption are a 4.2 percentage point increase
in renewables’ share and a price increase of 2.0 cents per kWh or
17%. These cost estimates significantly exceed the marginal operational
costs of renewables and likely reflect costs that renewables impose on
the generation system, including those associated with their
intermittency, higher transmission costs, and any stranded asset costs
assigned to ratepayers. The estimated reduction in carbon emissions is
imprecise, but, together with the price results, indicates that the cost
per metric ton of CO2 abated exceeds $130 in all specifications and
ranges up to $460, making it least several times larger than
conventional estimates of the social cost of carbon. These results do
not rule out the possibility that RPS policies could dynamically reduce
the cost of abatement in the future by causing improvements in renewable
technology.
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