IAE, NEA release energy generation cost projections

The International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) released a joint report Monday that indicates the cost of generating electricity through some renewable means is expected to fall.

The  report, "Projected Costs of Generating Energy: 2015 Edition," indicates that newer nuclear power plants will be able to generate electricity more cheaply than power plants that utilize natural gas or coal across the lifetime of the plant.

The report said that it would be impossible for a single generation technology method or source to provide the most cost-effective electricity generation across the board. Researchers for the report looked at generating costs among 180 plants that utilize multiple forms of generation across 22 countries.

While the report finds that in some markets the cost of renewable technology is higher than that of gas or coal-based plants, it also said that utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) installations and wind power is comparable to fossil-fuel based methods. While regional variations exist in baseload technologies across the studied areas, the report said that renewable costs are developing a pattern of convergence toward the lower half of international bench marks.

In their report, the IEA and the NEA analyzed the immediate pressures of electricity generation which includes the process of pricing renewable variability, technological effects on carbon pricing and effects of liberalization of prices on levelized costs of electricity and investment return.