New Energy Hitting “Spectacular” Low Costs

Tumbling Costs for Wind, Solar, Batteries Are Squeezing Fossil Fuels; Latest BNEF study of comparative costs worldwide shows an 18% improvement in the competitiveness of onshore wind and solar in the last year, and new and rapidly developing roles for batteries.

March 28, 2018 (Bloomberg New Energy Finance)

“Coal and gas are facing a mounting threat to their position in the world’s electricity generation mix, as a result of the spectacular reductions in cost…[The latest report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) on the levelized costs of electricity (LCOE)] for all the leading technologies finds that fossil fuel power is facing an unprecedented challenge in all three roles it performs in the energy mix…In bulk generation, the threat comes from wind and solar photovoltaics, both of which have reduced their LCOEs further in the last year, thanks to falling capital costs, improving efficiency and the spread of competitive auctions around the world…In dispatchable power – the ability to respond to grid requests to ramp electricity generation up or down at any time of day – the challenge to new coal and gas is coming from the pairing of battery storage with wind and solar, enabling the latter two ‘variable’ sources to smooth output, and if necessary, shift the timing of supply…In flexibility – the ability to switch on and off in response to grid electricity shortfalls and surpluses over periods of hours – stand-alone batteries are increasingly cost-effective and are starting to compete on price with open-cycle gas plants, and with other options such as pumped hydro…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet