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Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Science & Technology: Renewable Energy Produces Electricity More Cheaply than Coal and Gas - Report

Joint IEA-NEA report details plunge in costs of producing electricity from renewables

The cost of producing electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar has been falling for several years. Now, a new report provides in detail the contrasting costs for different power generation technologies around the world and shows that renewable sources can produce electricity at close to or even below the cost of new fossil fuel-based power stations.

The report, Projected Costs of Generating Electricity: 2015 Edition, by the International Energy Agency and the U.S. Nuclear Energy Agency, also shows that new nuclear power plants generate electricity more cheaply than other established “baseload” sources such as coal- and gas-fired power plants over the full lifetime of facilities when financing costs are relatively low.