pdqcp

@ pdqcp @lemmy.dbzer0.com

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4w ago

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pdqcp @lemmy.dbzer0.com 4w ago
Get the Aussies in here

4w ago

The Button Has Ended

He pressed it when it was blue

Is nuclear really cheaper than renewables + batteries nowadays? I wonder if there are recent studies looking into it

Quick search points to this:

Levelized Cost of Electricity: which is a measure of the total cost of building and operating a power plant over its lifetime and expressed in dollars per megawatt-hour. [...] LCOE serves as a comprehensive metric that consolidates all direct cost components of a specific power generation technology. This includes capital expenditures, financing, fuel costs, operations and maintenance, and any expenses related to carbon pricing. However, LCOE does not account for network integration or other indirect costs
LCOE for advanced nuclear power was estimated at $110/MWh in 2023 and forecasted to remain the same up to 2050, while solar PV estimated to be $55/MWh in 2023 and expected to decline to $25/MWh in 2050. Onshore wind was $40/MWh in 2023 and expected to decline to $35/MWh in 2050 making renewables significantly cheaper in many cases
[...] Global weighted average levelized cost of electricity for newly commissioned utility-scale solar photovoltaic, onshore wind, offshore wind, and hydropower projects experienced a downward trend. The most notable drop occurred in utility-scale solar PV, which saw a 12% decrease from 2022 [in LCOE costs][...]
In contrast, nuclear power continues to face cost overruns and long construction timelines [...]

Source: https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/Power-Play-The-Economics-Of-Nuclear-Vs-Renewables

[Caveat: Below numbers are most likely not using LCOE]:

[...] In 2025, developers added 87 gigawatts of combined solar and storage, delivering power at an average of $57/MWh

By contrast, benchmark cost of a typical fixed axis solar farm increased 6% compared to 2025, hitting $39/MWh, while onshore wind reached $40/MWh and offshore wind climbed to $100/MWh globally [...]

Source: https://about.bnef.com/insights/clean-energy/battery-storage-costs-hit-record-lows-as-costs-of-other-clean-power-technologies-increased-bloombergnef/

If we aren't there yet, I still think we might see renewables + batteries as cheaper options in the short term.

I'd really like to see an LCOE analysis including batteries. If we naively assume LCOE costs for PV+batteries is the same as PV, we might already be there