Spectacular falls in the cost of wind, solar and battery technology mean that clean energy is increasingly pushing coal and gas out of the world’s electricity generation mix in a “chilling” development for the future of fossil fuel power generation.
Research group Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) has released its latest report on the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and it suggests that President Donald Trump’s attempts to revive the U.S. coal industry is doomed to failure. That’s because the price of battery storage has tumbled by 79% since 2010, from $1,000/kWh to $209/kWh while both wind and solar power have fallen by 18% in just a year.
BNEF says that fossil fuel power, which is responsible for the bulk of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which cause climate change, “is facing an unprecedented challenge in all three roles it performs in the energy mix – the supply of ‘bulk generation,’ the supply of ‘dispatchable generation,’ and the provision of ‘flexibility.’”
Wind and solar PV costs have continued to fall over the last year thanks to falling capital costs, higher efficiency and the spread of competitive tenders for clean power around the world, increasing their viability in bulk generation.
Read more: Forbes