Lower storage costs will drive renewable energy growth

Subject

Renewable energy costs.

Significance

Renewable energy costs continue to fall in both absolute terms and relative to conventional energy sources.

Impacts

• The switch to competitive bidding will see costs peak and then decline for governments that face high subsidy bills from feed-in tariffs.
• The portfolio of subsidy-free renewable energy options will grow in the next five years to include solar thermal energy and offshore wind.
• Technology advances will particularly reduce the cost over the next decade of building offshore wind capacity.