NEW YORK : The average costs to produce onshore wind and solar power in the United States have increased for the first time since 2009 as steel and silicon became more expensive and supply chains were disrupted, research from investment bank Lazard showed on Wednesday.
President Joe Biden is among world leaders who hope that peppering hillsides and plains with turbines and panels will reduce the cost of power for all consumers in part because wind and light do not need to be paid for, unlike gas and coal.
The levelized cost of energy – a measure of how much a developer needs to charge for power when factoring in expenses like building and maintenance – has been decreasing for the past 15 years, according to Lazard.
Now, cost inflation and supply chain disruption have helped push the unsubsidized cost of producing large-scale solar power as high as $96 per megawatt hour, from a maximum of $41 in 2021, the bank found. The average has gone to $60 from $36.
But the low point of the new range is also much lower: Lazard found some companies could charge as little as $24 per megawatt hour for utility-scale solar and still cover their costs, from $30 in 2021…Read More...
Source: Reuters
