In 2025, Onshore Wind and Large-Scale Solar Will Outperform Nuclear

According to the UK’s Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), the estimated future costs (in 2025) of onshore wind and large-scale solar power will be more competitive than that of nuclear power. As we can obviously notice, DECC's estimates for the same year were quite different just 3 or 6 years ago. It is good news for those countries who have to greatly increase the shares of low-carbon energy sources to satisfy the mitigation pledges manifested in their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs; or now, their first Nationally Determined Contributions [NDCs]).

Note: If you want to know the current cost estimates of different energy technologies, please read my previous post (“Cost of Energy Comparison, Including Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) - 2016 Update” at http://j.mp/LCOE_2016).

Figure: Levelized cost of generating 1 MWh with different technologies in 2025: changes in DECC’s estimates



Source: National Audit Office. (2016). Nuclear Power in the UK. London, UK: National Audit Office. [Full-text at http://j.mp/2016_UK_LCOE]

$/£ Exchange Rate in 2014: 1 pound sterling = $1.6484 (Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AEXUSUK)