The Cost of Renewable Power: A Survey of Recent Estimates - Green Energy and Efficiency: An Economic Perspective - page 231

EIA US Energy Information Administration
EPIA European Photovoltaic Industry Association
EWEA European Wind Energy Association
GCCT Gas Combined Cycle Turbine
GHG Greenhouse Gasses
IMF International Monetary Fund
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
IRENA International Renewable Energy Association
kW MW, kilowatt, Megawatt
kWh MWh, kilowatt hour, Megawatt hour
LCE Levelised Cost of Energy (same as LCOE)
LCOE Levelised Cost of Energy
NREL National Renewable Energy Laboratory
O & M t Operating and Management costs in period t
PTC Parabolic Trough Collector (also denoted simply as PT)
PV Photo Voltaic
PwC Price waterhouse Coopers
REN 21 Renewable Energy Policy Network for the Twenty

rst Century

SLCOE Total System LCOE
TES Thermal Electricity Storage
USD US Dollar
vRES Variable Renewable Energy Sources
WACC Weighted Average Cost of Capital
WEC World Energy Council

1 Introduction

1 This paper is an overview of the cost of renewable power, based on the most recent,
up-to-date research available at the time of writing late in 2013. It is important to
underline this point from the start, because renewable energy is a rapidly evolving

eld, and in some cases costs have decreased substantially over the last year or two.
Several research departments around the world are working on this subject, so an
attempt to summarise and unify the main results as far as possible is not only
worthwhile but absolutely necessary. This is so because the world of energy is
undergoing signi

cant changes that many consider will change the outlook of the
industry forever within one or two decades at most [ 34 ]. The opportunities for
investors and governments alike are therefore huge, but so are the potential losses for

1 Support from, MCyT and ERDF under project ECO2012-32299 is acknowledged. The
suggestions of the editors are also acknowledged. Any remaining errors are entirely my own.