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Cost of electricity from new renewable power plants

The average lifetime cost of each megawatt-hour of electricity from renewable power projects that started operating each year since 2010, by technology, worldwide, in 2025 US dollars, as calculated by IRENA.

Latest value

44USD/MWh

World (projects commissioned in each year), 2025. Version 2026-07-02.

Cost of electricity from new renewable power plants (US dollars per megawatt-hour, at 2025 prices)

112 values from 2010 to 2025. Lines: Solar photovoltaic, Onshore wind, Offshore wind, Concentrated solar power, Hydropower.
Show as a table
Cost of electricity from new renewable power plants, every value
PeriodTechnologyValue (USD/MWh)Status
2010Solar photovoltaic408final
2011Solar photovoltaic344final
2012Solar photovoltaic260final
2013Solar photovoltaic203final
2014Solar photovoltaic181final
2015Solar photovoltaic134final
2016Solar photovoltaic117final
2017Solar photovoltaic94final
2018Solar photovoltaic79final
2019Solar photovoltaic68final
2020Solar photovoltaic61final
2021Solar photovoltaic54final
2022Solar photovoltaic50final
2023Solar photovoltaic43final
2024Solar photovoltaic43final
2025Solar photovoltaic44final
2010Onshore wind114final
2011Onshore wind108final
2012Onshore wind99final
2013Onshore wind99final
2014Onshore wind88final
2015Onshore wind76final
2016Onshore wind70final
2017Onshore wind65final
2018Onshore wind56final
2019Onshore wind49final
2020Onshore wind41final
2021Onshore wind36final
2022Onshore wind34final
2023Onshore wind33final
2024Onshore wind34final
2025Onshore wind33final
2010Offshore wind208final
2011Offshore wind221final
2012Offshore wind189final
2013Offshore wind155final
2014Offshore wind197final
2015Offshore wind157final
2016Offshore wind130final
2017Offshore wind119final
2018Offshore wind115final
2019Offshore wind94final
2020Offshore wind92final
2021Offshore wind82final
2022Offshore wind81final
2023Offshore wind77final
2024Offshore wind81final
2025Offshore wind78final
2010Concentrated solar power412final
2011Concentrated solar power382final
2012Concentrated solar power386final
2013Concentrated solar power282final
2014Concentrated solar power249final
2015Concentrated solar power249final
2016Concentrated solar power299final
2017Concentrated solar power251final
2018Concentrated solar power155final
2019Concentrated solar power213final
2020Concentrated solar power121final
2021Concentrated solar power129final
2022Concentrated solar power127final
2023Concentrated solar power122final
2024Concentrated solar power106final
2025Concentrated solar power115final
2010Hydropower44final
2011Hydropower41final
2012Hydropower41final
2013Hydropower47final
2014Hydropower37final
2015Hydropower41final
2016Hydropower54final
2017Hydropower56final
2018Hydropower46final
2019Hydropower48final
2020Hydropower51final
2021Hydropower57final
2022Hydropower68final
2023Hydropower58final
2024Hydropower57final
2025Hydropower62final
2010Geothermal58final
2011Geothermalnone (IRENA's data file has no value for Geothermal in 2011.)final
2012Geothermal100final
2013Geothermal73final
2014Geothermal74final
2015Geothermal68final
2016Geothermal77final
2017Geothermal81final
2018Geothermal79final
2019Geothermal78final
2020Geothermal67final
2021Geothermal77final
2022Geothermal62final
2023Geothermal76final
2024Geothermal58final
2025Geothermal89final
2010Bioenergy88final
2011Bioenergy85final
2012Bioenergy71final
2013Bioenergy95final
2014Bioenergy92final
2015Bioenergy83final
2016Bioenergy79final
2017Bioenergy79final
2018Bioenergy61final
2019Bioenergy72final
2020Bioenergy81final
2021Bioenergy75final
2022Bioenergy65final
2023Bioenergy74final
2024Bioenergy87final
2025Bioenergy86final
IRENA (2026), Renewable power generation costs in 2025. Source and copyright holder © IRENA 2026. IRENA publication terms (free use with acknowledgement of IRENA as source and copyright holder).

Notes on individual values

  • IRENA's workbook stores this value as the whole number 43.

Where it comes from

Producer
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) · Renewable power generation costs in 2025
Version
2026-07-02
File
https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2026/Jul/IRENA_TEC_RPGC_in_2025_data_file_2026.xlsx
Fetched
2026-10-05 (automatically), 12,908,268 bytes
Fingerprint
sha256 44dd32bc07cf707b7dc296aff77a2a4b802ae270e53663a422cb0c017c8d8172ETag 76f027738bf84e0491e6c0ab0bb332d0 · Last-Modified Thu, 02 Jul 2026 07:51:14 GMT
Copies
No Wayback copy recorded yet.
Cite the producer
IRENA (2026), Renewable power generation costs in 2025, International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi.
Producer
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) · Renewable power generation costs in 2025
Version
2026-07-02
File
https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2026/Jul/IRENA_TEC_RPGC_2025_Executive_summary_2026.pdf
Fetched
2026-10-05 (automatically), 2,737,306 bytes
Fingerprint
sha256 2046b4146b69197a6d62f769a50fd76b87c31f558fbc8b8c4f621339e8b46905
Copies
No Wayback copy recorded yet.
Cite the producer
IRENA (2026), Renewable power generation costs in 2025, International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi.

What was done to it

  1. Read sheet 'Fig S.2' (Figure S.2 LCOE of renewable power technologies, 2010-2025, unit 'LCOE (2025 USD/MWh)') of IRENA's data file for Renewable power generation costs in 2025, last modified on 2026-07-02 (sha256 44dd32bc07cf…), whose Contents sheet cites this edition. Values are taken as stored in the workbook, one per technology and year, 2010–2025; an empty cell is published as a null value.

    Code: pipeline/src/envdash/transforms/energy/irena_costs.py · code sha256 1fe337ed378dc05e… · inputs 44dd32bc07cf… 2046b4146b69…

  2. Sheets labelled as based on third-party data, which are never read: 'Fig. 9.5' (Based on BNEF data); 'Fig. 9.7' (Based on BNEF data); 'Fig. 9.8' (Based on Carbon Limiting Technologies).

    Code: pipeline/src/envdash/transforms/energy/irena_costs.py · code sha256 1fe337ed378dc05e… · inputs 44dd32bc07cf… 2046b4146b69…

  3. Checked that sheet 'Fig S.1' row 'LCOE 2025 (USD/MWh)' equals each technology's 2025 value rounded to a whole dollar, and found the executive summary's statements of the 2025 values on its page 5.

    Code: pipeline/src/envdash/transforms/energy/irena_costs.py · code sha256 1fe337ed378dc05e… · inputs 44dd32bc07cf… 2046b4146b69…

  4. Published the global weighted averages as stored. 'Solar thermal' in the sheet is concentrated solar power (the summary sheet's label).

    Code: pipeline/src/envdash/transforms/energy/irena_costs.py · code sha256 1fe337ed378dc05e… · inputs 44dd32bc07cf… 2046b4146b69…

What it covers

Geography
World (projects commissioned in each year)
Basis
Global weighted-average levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) of utility-scale projects commissioned in the year, in real 2025 US dollars, from IRENA's cost database, with IRENA's standard assumptions for the cost of capital and economic life. Excludes the cost of integrating variable power into grids. Weighted by capacity; wide differences between countries and projects lie behind each average.
Unit
US dollars per megawatt-hour, at 2025 prices (USD/MWh)