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It's time for wind and solar to pass on their subsidies to emerging technologies that need them more, "said Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates.
After decades of government incentives, wind and solar have been sufficiently deployed to make manufacturers and developers more and more efficient and reduce their costs. Now, they can probably survive without them, Gates said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
"Tax benefits should be shifted into more restrictive areas, such as energy storage, offshore wind, which still has a very high price," said Gates, who co-chairs a global group of economic, political and scientific leaders. in 2018 to make investments to help the world adapt to climate change.
US states, including New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, consider offshore wind farms proposed in the Atlantic Ocean as key ingredients for phasing out fossil fuels and fighting climate change. But building wind farms offshore costs almost twice as much as land. Energy storage, on the other hand, is essential to allow wind and solar power plants to distribute energy even when the sun goes down and the breeze calms down. But big batteries are expensive, too.
"Progress on solar and wind energy is very useful," said Gates. "But the sun does not shine 24 hours a day."
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