Outdoor power cost performance in 2025

Clean power technology costs for wind, solar and battery technologies are expected to fall further by 2-11% in 2025, breaking last year's record, according to a report by research provider BloombergNEF (BNEF).

Modules were sold at or below the cost of production, with no signs of the overcapacity in the solar supply chain easing in 2025. Batteries will cross the $100/MWh watershed in 2025, while global benchmarks for wind and solar generation are also set to fall 4% and 2%, respectively.

Unanimously, all studies project a decremental trend in capital costs during the studied timeframe, resulting in a projected cost range of 1300-2900 $/kW in 2050. In short, the cost projections for offshore wind technology showcase a consistent trend of reduction, signalling positive advancements in cost-effectiveness.

Batteries will cross the $100/MWh watershed in 2025, while global benchmarks for wind and solar generation are also set to fall 4% and 2%, respectively. BNEF's report comes as renewable technologies are already undercutting the costs of new coal and gas plants on production costs globally.

Projections overestimate the costs of wind power and solar photovoltaics (PV) by excluding existing flexibility strategies like dispatchable renewables, demand response, and grid expansion, and by adding inflated integration costs due to low spatial and temporal granularity .

Cost projections for the year 2030 is expected to be around 940-1660 $/kW, showing a narrower range compared to the current costs for onshore wind. Comparing projections to the actual CAPEX and its range, it is evident that almost all the projections have been within the global cost range since 2015.