The sustained downward progression in the cost of wind energy remains a dominant theme in the newest release of an authoritative annual analysis of comparative energy costs. U.S. investment firm Lazard has found a further five per cent crop in the price of wind energy in 2019 and a total decline of 70 per cent since 2009.
That's a remarkable achievement, which is to the great credit of the wind energy industry and to the great benefit of electricity customers across Canada and indeed around the world. Key conventional energy sources, in contrast, have at best seen much more modest cost improvements in the same period.
The full "levelized cost" (LCOE)* for a megawatt-hour of onshore, utility-scale wind energy in the United States is now between US$28 and $54 on an unsubsidized basis. Among conventional energy sources, only combined cycle natural gas comes close to being competitive, with a range of US$44 to $68. Even among other renewable options, none have a cost range that extends as low as the wind cost range.
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