London — The cost of clean energy technologies worldwide, such as wind, solar and battery storage, are expected to fall further this year, a report by BloombergNEF showed on Thursday, despite rising protectionism in the form of tariffs on green energy imports.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
New wind and solar farms already undercut the production costs of new coal and gas plants in nearly every market worldwide. Cheaper renewable energy enables countries to move away from fossil fuels in the fight against climate change.
CONTEXT
China’s clean technology manufacturing overcapacity drove cost declines last year and countries such as the U.S. and European nations have slapped tariffs on Chinese imports such as solar components and electric vehicles to protect domestic manufacturing.
On average, the China can produce a megawatt-hour of electricity from major power-generating technologies 11-64% cheaper than other markets, the report said.
BY THE NUMBERS
The cost of clean power technologies is expected to fall further by 2-11% in 2025. While trade barriers could stall declines temporarily, BNEF expects the levellized cost of electricity for clean technologies to fall by 22-49% by 2035.
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KEY QUOTE
“China is exporting green energy tech so cheaply that the rest of the world is thinking about erecting barriers to protect their own industries,” said Matthias Kimmel, head of energy economics at BNEF.
“But the overall trend in cost reductions is so strong that nobody, not even President Trump, will be able to halt it,” he added.
Reporting by Nina Chestney, Editing by William Maclean – Reuters
