According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), total installed costs for renewable power decreased by more than 10% for all technologies between 2023 and 2024, except for offshore wind (stable), and bioenergy (+16%). Since 2010, total installed costs have halved for wind (-55% onshore and -48% offshore), and strongly decreased for solar (-87% for solar PV and -66% for CSP), whereas they increased for bioenergy (+5%), geothermal (+30%) and hydropower (+52%). These three technologies also posted rising levelised costs of electricity (LCOEs) over the 2010-2024 period (+1% for bioenergy, +9% geothermal and +30% hydropower), but LCOEs collapsed for solar (-90% for PV and -77% for CSP) and for wind (-70% for onshore wind and -62% for offshore wind). As well, battery storage costs also fell by 93% between 2010 and 2024.
In 2024, renewables continued to be the most cost-competitive source of new electricity generation, with LCOEs as low as US$3.4c/kWh for onshore wind, US$4.3c/kWh for solar PV and US$5.7c/kWh for hydropower. Overall, 91% of the newly commissioned utility-scale renewable capacity delivering power at a lower cost than the cheapest new thermal alternative, enabling to avoid US$467bn in fossil fuel costs.