Matthew Yglesias, Columnist

What Happens When Renewable Energy Isn’t So Cheap?

The Biden administration needs a climate policy that makes sense even when the cost of wind and solar power is rising.

Getting more expensive.

Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images North America
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The falling cost of renewable energy has been one of the great success stories of our time. Not only does it make greening the planet affordable, it also encourages ambitious goals. Learning by doing has pushed a declining cost curve that optimists hope will apply to carbon removal, small modular designs for nuclear reactors, battery technology and more.

That’s why it’s particularly bad news that the price of solar, and especially offshore wind projects, is now going up rather than down.