{"id":606,"date":"2026-06-19T12:03:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=606"},"modified":"2026-06-19T12:03:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:03:30","slug":"does-solar-energy-need-subsidies-to-compete-with-fossil-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=606","title":{"rendered":"Does solar energy need subsidies to compete with fossil fuels?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<h2>No.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p>Unsubsidized utility-scale solar is now generally cheaper than building fossil fuel power plants.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=604\">Super PACs drop $1.3M in last-minute spree to protect Diana DeGette in Denver\u2019s congressional district<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Costs are often compared using \u201clevelized cost of energy,\u201d the average lifetime cost to build and run a power plant divided by the electricity it produces. A 2025 analysis estimates the mean LCOE of utility-scale solar at about $58 per megawatt-hour without subsidies, compared to $79 for new natural gas plants and $128 for new coal. The International Energy Agency reports solar energy is the cheapest source of new electricity generation in most parts of the world.<\/p>\n<p>Solar costs have fallen sharply over the past decade as panel prices have dropped and the industry has grown. Subsidies can further lower costs, but solar is not dependent on them to compete with fossil fuels.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=602\">Rural is Rad champions small-town outdoor brands with a big debut at Outside Days festival<\/a><\/p>\n<p>See a full discussion of this at Skeptical Science<\/p>\n<p>See full source list below.<\/p>\n<p><em>This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Colorado Sun partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs \u2014 bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=600\">New homes and businesses in Denver will see major surge in water connection fees<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No. Unsubsidized utility-scale solar is now generally cheaper than building fossil fuel power plants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Does solar energy need subsidies to compete with fossil fuels? - Colorado Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=606\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does solar energy need subsidies to compete with fossil fuels? 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