Renewable electricity is increasingly cheaper than any new power capacity based on fossil fuels, according to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
The ‘Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2019’ report found that on average new solar photovoltaic and onshore wind farms cost less than keeping many existing coal plants in operation.
It said that auction results show this trend accelerating, reinforcing the case to phase-out coal entirely.
Electricity costs for solar and wind power have continued to fall significantly between 2010 and 2019 – by 47% for concentrated solar power, 82% for solar PV, 39% for onshore wind and 29% for offshore wind.
IRENA said that next year up to 1200GW of existing coal capacity could cost more to operate than the cost of new utility-scale solar PV.
Replacing the costliest 500GW of coal with solar PV and onshore wind next year would cut power system costs by up to $23bn every year and reduce annual emissions by around 1.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide (CO2), the report said.
This would also yield an investment stimulus of $940bn, which is equal to around 1% of global GDP, the report added.
IRENA said the fall in renewable electricity costs has been driven by improving technologies, economies of scale, increasingly competitive supply chains and growing developer experience.