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Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE presented the fourth edition of their study on the cost price of electricity from renewable sources on March 20, 2018. In it, they analyze current costs and forecast further developments based on technology-specific learning rates and market scenarios up to the year 2035. "The cost forecasts of the previous studies have been confirmed.

The cost price of electricity from renewable energies is falling continuously and is no longer an obstacle to CO₂-free electricity generation. Newly constructed photovoltaic plants and onshore wind turbines at favourable locations are already cheaper than fossil-fuel power plants, and this trend will increase significantly by 2035," says project manager Dr Christoph Kost.

The ever-improving competitive position of renewables is leading to new applications and rapidly growing markets that are no longer dependent on subsidies. On the other hand, the full-load hours of conventional power plants continue to decline due to a higher share of renewables, which drives up their costs. In addition, fuel and CO₂-certificate prices. "It can be assumed that not necessarily the cheapest conventional form of generation will exist on the market to complement the fluctuating renewables, but the one that can show a high flexibility in terms of start-up and shut-down variability, i.e. preferably power plants based on natural gas", says Dr. Christoph Kost.

Currently, PV systems achieve electricity production costs of between 3.71 and 11.54 € cents/kWh, depending on the system type and global radiation - which in Germany is between 950 and 1,300 kWh/(m²a). The specific system costs are between €600 and €1,400/kWp, depending on the system type.

Downloads

• Study: Electricity production costs of renewable energies (March 2018) [ PDF 6.51 MB ].
• Press release of 20.3.2018 "Study on electricity production costs: photovoltaics and onshore wind are cheapest technologies in Germany" [ PDF 0.57 MB ].

Keywords:
Construction and operating costs, Renewable, Climate protection, Media, Tenant electricity, New books and studies, PV, PlusEnergy house/settlement