The cost of power generation from renewable sources has fallen so far in the past few years that “wind and solar now represent the lowest cost option for generating electricity,” said Francis O’Sullivan, research director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Energy Initiative in an article published in the Wall Street Journal beginning of this week. In 2017, the global average cost of electricity from onshore wind was 0.06 USD per kilowatt-hour compared to 0.08 USD in 2010, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Thus, renewable energy is now competitive with fossil fuels in many places.
By 2017, 70 countries had switched to auction systems to lower prices for wind power. On the one hand, the widespread and rapid transition towards auction models shows confidence in the industry’s capability to further lower prices. On the other hand, we’ve got to make sure that the rapid price decline we have experienced, even to the point of zero-cent bids, doesn’t restrain the industry’s ability to innovate or develop sustainably.
Siemens Gamesa is leveraging its post-merger scale, industrialization, technological innovation and digitalization to cut the costs of wind energy step-by-step. This process takes time, however, and will not happen overnight. So while the transition from subsidies to more competitive market structures is important and appropriate, it just needs to happen at a reasonable pace.
The wind industry is without a doubt generating value, driving innovation and creating highly qualified jobs, as we’ve seen in last week’s inauguration of the Siemens Gamesa offshore site in Cuxhaven, Germany. So let’s take care that this still young industry can continue to develop well and sustainably – not only on Global Wind Day but far into the future.
Source: www.siemens.com
