Between 2022 and 2023, utility-scale solar PV projects showed the most significant decrease (by 12%). For newly commissioned onshore wind projects, the global weighted average LCOE fell by 3% year-on-year; whilst for offshore wind, the cost of electricity of new projects decreased by 7% compared to 2022.
Data are taken from the Microgeneration Certification Scheme - MCS Installation Database. For enquiries concerning this table email [email protected]. Small scale solar PV cost data for 2023-2024 published. Small scale solar PV cost data for 2022-2023 published. Small scale solar PV cost data for 2021-2022 published.
Generation costs are used as inputs to the department’s analysis, including the setting of Administrative Strike Price setting for Contracts for Difference allocation rounds. These assumptions are reviewed at each allocation round. However, it is important to note that levelised costs are not the same as strike prices.
In 2022, the global weighted average levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) from newly commissioned utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PV), onshore wind, concentrating solar power (CSP), bioenergy and geothermal energy all fell, despite rising materials and equipment costs.
Electricity generation costs are a fundamental part of energy market analysis, and a good understanding of these costs is important when analysing and designing policy to make progress towards net zero.
The levelised cost of a generation technology is the ratio of the total costs of a generic plant to the total amount of electricity expected to be generated over the plant’s lifetime. Both are expressed in net present value terms. This means that future costs and outputs are discounted, when compared to costs and outputs today.