Onshore wind “fully cost competitive”

This year has seen a significant shift in the generating cost comparison between renewable energy and fossil fuels, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

The research company’s Levelised Cost of Electricity Update for the second half of 2015 shows that onshore wind and crystalline silicon photovoltaics – the two most widespread renewable technologies – have both reduced costs in 2015, while costs have gone up for gas-fired and coal-fired generation.

Among the country-level findings of the study are that onshore wind is now fully cost-competitive with both gas-fired and coal-fired generation, once carbon costs are taken into account, in the UK and Germany.

In the UK, onshore wind comes in on average at $85 per MWh in the second half of 2015, compared to $115 for combined-cycle gas and $115 for coal-fired power; in Germany, onshore wind is at $80, compared to $118 for gas and $106 for coal.

Luke Mills, analyst, energy economics at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, comments: “Onshore wind and solar PV are both now much more competitive against the established generation technologies than would have seemed possible only five or 10 years ago.”