The report does not explain how the cost of “clean energy” is an expensive public burden.
One, through Federal tax credits, citizens subsidize “clean energy.” The credits are purchased by corporations to lower their Federal tax bill, lowering government receipts, thus increasing the tax burden on ordinary citizens.
Two, by their very nature, wind and solar power are unreliable, often failing to produce when needed the most. Unreliable electricity is of low value. In the US, transmission companies, the grid operators, convert low-value, unreliable electricity into high-value, reliable electricity. These costs are passed on to the consumers, not the generators of unreliable electricity. Stabilizing electricity is a major cost of transmission services and is paid by all consumers on the grid.
Three, through proposed cap and trade market mechanisms, carbon-based, reliable generators are penalized for their production by requiring their carbon footprint to be offset by unreliable generation sources.
Thus, the Virginia public pays a double subsidy for low-value electricity from wind and solar, which the plan endorses. The public subsidizes the capital costs of construction through tax credits, etc., and the public subsidies the operating costs of making low value unreliable electricity into high-value reliable electricity.