I frequently find myself challenged by people who want to know, “When will solar and renewable energy be able to compete on their own?” The implication of course is that the renewable energy industry is artificially propped up by unusually large public subsidies.

My favorite response is to issue a challenge of my own: “Name one source of energy that doesn’t receive a subsidy.” Here’s a hint: it’s an impossible task. The reality is that every conventional source of energy—coal, oil, and natural gas—enjoys massive government subsidies that ‘artificially’ support their markets.

You don’t have to take my word for it. A recent article in the FT reports that conventional energy sources benefit every year from $550 billion annually in taxpayer and consumer funded benefits. And no, that total does not include the massive additional subsidies offered to nuclear power.

Add up all the subsidies offered to wind and solar and I’ll bet they don’t approach even 1% of those used by conventional fuels and nuclear combined. So the next time someone tells you renewables need to compete fair and square, tell them you agree. Let’s level the playing field and eliminate all energy subsidies!

The political reality is that we’re never going to get rid of subsidies. Energy, GDP, and national security are so closely intertwined that governments will always have an interest in regulating and incentivizing the energy industry. The real debate is not whether we should have subsidies. Instead, we should examine where we apply subsidies and what market outcomes we hope to shape as a result.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) made an exciting announcement today, revealing that it has signed its first feed-in tariff contract for 60MW of solar PV projects with Recurrent Energy.

The nation’s sixth largest publicly owned utility, SMUD is widely recognized as a leader in innovative approaches to energy efficiency and renewables. Their renewable feed-in tariff program was introduced earlier this year for qualifying renewable and combined heat and power facilities.

The contracts comprise twelve individual five-megawatt (MW) projects located in southern Sacramento County. With this announcement, Recurrent Energy’s contract portfolio has now expanded to over 330MW of projects with signed power offtake agreements and viable interconnections.

I’m proud of the job our development team did responding to SMUD’s solicitation for proposals. They came up with a clever siting strategy and worked long hours to get all twelve projects over the finish line to meet the program deadline for applications.

I’m also thrilled that we’re playing a part in working with SMUD–long a leader in solar–to take an historic and important step forward as the first large utility on track to meet California’s 20% renewable standards.

I guess it’s too much to ask the business-as-usual dirty energy companies to play fair. They see the writing on the wall as states like California take meaningful steps towards clean alternatives to burning fossil fuels. Now it’s clear their response will be to wage a cynical and deceptive battle that maintains the profits they earn from their dirty ways.

The latest is Proposition 23, a California ballot measure sponsored by two Texas oil companies (Valero and Tesoro) that aims to kill popular climate and clean air legislation known as AB32.

The proposition is a cynical effort to fool voters in the 2010 fall elections by appealing to concerns about difficult economic times. Proponents falsely claim that AB32 will cost the state jobs and money.

The reality is that California’s groundbreaking climate and clean air laws have stimulated billions of dollars of investment in renewable energy projects and technology. And according to the Employment Development Department, since AB32 was put in place California’s clean jobs have grown 10 times faster than other jobs across the state. Far from being a drag on the economy, AB32 is an economic stimulus that is helping to California lead the country’s development of clean tech industry.

The proposition is also deceptively worded to fool voters into thinking it would only temporarily suspend AB32 until unemployment dips below 5.5% for four consecutive quarters. It almost sounds reasonable doesn’t it? Until you realize that California unemployment has rarely gone to that level for that long in the past 30 years. Don’t be fooled. There is nothing temporary about Proposition 23, it’s a cleverly written spike meant to kill the legislation forever.

Here’s a simple question: do you really believe two Texas oil companies care that much about saving California’s jobs and economy? Or do you think maybe they’ll do whatever it takes to protect an important market, perpetuating their profit from selling dirty fossil fuels to our state’s residents. I think I know what the anwer is–so do you. Don’t let them get away with killing California’s clean technology industry.

VOTE NO ON PROP 23. VOTE NO ON THE DIRTY ENERGY PROPOSITION!

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