Wind and solar increases cost-competitiveness versus fossil fuels

The team analysed over 55,000 projects around the world to come up with their global average figures.

That presents an increasingly favorable comparison with fossil fuels – though it still depends greatly on where you are located. In the Americas, it increased from $66 per Mwh to $75, from $68 to $73 in Asia-Pacific, and from $82 to $105 in Europe.

Cost differences in different areas reflect a large variety of factors, ranging from the cost of fuels themselves on the open market to assumptions about the price of carbon. “The Indian summer at the end of the month wasn’t just a nice surprise; it also helped ensure that total solar power output across September remained high”.

Industry estimates for United Kingdom onshore wind capacity by 2020 are around 12 gigawatts.

Germany has experienced a similar trend, and in the second half of the year onshore wind is expected to cost $80 per megawatt-hour, against $118 for gas and $106 for coal.

The proposed university will be duly focused on research work, he said, and asked Varsha Joshi, Joint Secretary of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, to convey his request to Union Minister for Power Piyush Goyal to contribute a substantial sum to the varsity. Wind, in contrast, cost $77 and solar photovoltaics, $109.

Mooney adds that the United States is also not quite there yet, with the incredibly cheap average price of coal- and gas-fired electricity sitting at $65, while wind sit at $80 per megawatt-hour and solar at $107.

The LCOE for combined-cycle gas turbine generation jumped from $76 to $82 in the Americas in the second half, from $85 to $93 in Asia-Pacific and from $103 to $118 in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa).

The release of the BNEF report comes on the same day that The Times is reporting that officials at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have drawn up plans to shut down all of Britain’s coal-fired power stations by 2023.

“Scotland has proved yet again that whatever the weather it’s still good news for renewable energy generation”, said Karen Robinson of WeatherEnergy, the organization behind providing the information in a joint attempt with WWF Scotland to “help the public better understand the nation’s renewable energy resource”.

Among other low-carbon energy technologies, offshore wind reduced its global average LCOE from $176 per MWh, to $174, but still remains significantly more expensive than wind, solar PV, coal or gas, while biomass incineration saw its levelised cost stay steady at $134 per MWh. “And that’s very meaningful”, Henbest says.

At least one environmental group head heralded the Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis Tuesday.

As power plants become outdated and begin to be replaced, those funding them will see that the lifetime costs of these plants will only rise as renewables become more popular and less expensive – potentially causing them to think twice about putting their money in fossil fuel energy. “The transition to a clean energy economy is going full speed ahead and pushing unsafe, dirty fossil fuels to the back of the line”.