Electricity generation from RES is cheaper than traditional
In October 2020, Lazard published a new study of the cost of electricity generated for different types of both traditional generation and renewable energy sources.
The competitiveness of electricity generation from RES continues to grow steadily compared to the traditional energy sources. Thus, for big solar and wind power plants (depending on the technology) the cost of electricity (LCOE) is at the same or even lower level than for traditional generation facilities that carry a baseload (coal-fired power plants, nuclear power plants).
Due to the significant reduction in the cost of solar and wind power technologies (nine and three times respectively) over the last 10 years, newly built RES capacity can compete with existing traditional generation capacity that does not require construction costs.
Thus, the indicator of costs (LCOE), which takes into account capital costs, for a number of RES technologies can be compared with the marginal costs of traditional power generation facilities— thermal power plants, nuclear power plants, combined cycle stations.
