Average US construction costs for solar and wind generation continue to fall

The EIA reports annual capacity-weighted average construction costs for solar photovoltaic systems and onshore wind turbines have fallen.

From 2013 to 2018, costs for solar fell 50 per cent, costs for wind fell 27 per cent, and costs for natural gas fell 13 per cent. AP photo by David Zalubowski.

By Alex May

This article was published by the US Energy Information Administration on Sept. 16, 2020.

According to 2018 data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) for newly constructed utility-scale electric generators in the United States, annual capacity-weighted average construction costs for solar photovoltaic systems and onshore wind turbines have continued to decrease. Natural gas generator costs also decreased slightly in 2018.

From 2013 to 2018, costs for solar fell 50 per cent, costs for wind fell 27 per cent, and costs for natural gas fell 13 per cent. Together, these three generation technologies accounted for more than 98 per cent of total capacity added to the electricity grid in the United States in 2018. Investment in U.S. electric-generating capacity in 2018 increased by 9.3 per cent from 2017, driven by natural gas capacity additions.

capacity-weighted average construction costs for electricity generators
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Generator Construction Costs and Annual Electric Generator Inventory

Solar
The average construction cost for solar photovoltaic generators is higher than wind and natural gas generators on a dollar-per-kilowatt basis, although the gap is narrowing as the cost of solar falls rapidly. From 2017 to 2018, the average construction cost of solar in the United States fell 21 per cent to $1,848 per kilowatt (kW). The decrease was driven by falling costs for crystalline silicon fixed-tilt panels, which were at their lowest average construction cost of $1,767 per kW in 2018.

Crystalline silicon fixed-tilt panels—which accounted for more than one-third of the solar capacity added in the United States in 2018, at 1.7 gigawatts (GW)—had the second-highest share of solar capacity additions by technology. Crystalline silicon axis-based tracking panels had the highest share, with 2.0 GW (41 per cent of total solar capacity additions) of added generating capacity at an average cost of $1,834 per kW.

average construction costs for solar photovoltaic electricity generators
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Generator Construction Costs and Annual Electric Generator Inventory

Wind
Total U.S. wind capacity additions increased 18 per cent from 2017 to 2018 as the average construction cost for wind turbines dropped 16 per cent to $1,382 per kW. All wind farm size classes had lower average construction costs in 2018. The largest decreases were at wind farms with 1 megawatt (MW) to 25 MW of capacity; construction costs at these farms decreased by 22.6 per cent to $1,790 per kW.

average construction costs for wind farms
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Generator Construction Costs and Annual Electric Generator Inventory

Natural gas
Compared with other generation technologies, natural gas technologies received the highest U.S. investment in 2018, accounting for 46 per cent of total capacity additions for all energy sources. Growth in natural gas electric-generating capacity was led by significant additions in new capacity from combined-cycle facilities, which almost doubled the previous year’s additions for that technology. Combined-cycle technology construction costs dropped by 4 per cent in 2018 to $858 per kW.

average construction costs for natural gas-fired electricity generators
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Generator Construction Costs and Annual Electric Generator Inventory

 

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