Fossil Fuels Losing Cost Advantage Over Solar, Wind: IEA

The cost of producing electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind has dropped significantly over the past five years, narrowing the gap with power generated from fossil fuels and nuclear reactors, according to the International Energy Agency.

“The costs of renewable technologies—in particular solar photovoltaic—have declined significantly over the past five years,” the Paris-based IEA said in a report, “Projected Costs of Generating Electricity.” “These technologies are no longer cost outliers.”

The median cost of producing so-called baseload power that is available all the time from natural gas, coal and atomic plants was about $100 a megawatt-hour for ...