This incident, reported by Fox News, ably demonstrates the counterproductive outcomes that arise when government officials meddle with the incentives of producers:

Wind farms in the Pacific Northwest — built with government subsidies and maintained with tax credits for every megawatt produced — are now getting paid to shut down as the federal agency charged with managing the region’s electricity grid says there’s an oversupply of renewable power at certain times of the year.

The policy garbled the messages of the market, and the predictable result has been overinvestment: a bunch of wind turbines that go to waste, even when the wind is blowing.

A private organization, upon discovering such poor investment, would make the best of their position by scaling back. Not so for the Bonneville Power Authority.

[They are] offering to compensate wind companies for half their lost revenue. The bill could reach up to $50 million a year.

They are maintaining the status quo and passing the costs on to others.