Falling costs reaffirm renewables as low-cost solution to boost global climate action – IRENA

In most parts of the world today, renewables are the lowest-cost source of new power generation. As costs for solar and wind technologies continue falling, this will become the case in even more countries, the latest report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) shows.The cost of electricity from bioenergy, hydropower, geothermal, onshore and offshore wind was within the range of fossil fuel-fired power generation costs between 2010 and 2018. Since 2014, the global-weighted average cost of electricity of solar photovoltaics (PV) has also fallen into the fossil fuel cost range, according to IRENA’s Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2018 report. “Renewable power is the backbone of any development that aims to be sustainable”, said IRENA’s Director-General Francesco La Camera. “We must do everything we can to accelerate renewables if we are to meet the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement. Today’s report sends a clear signal to the international community: Renewable energy provides countries with a low-cost climate solution that allows for scaling up action,” he said, according to a press release from IRENA.