Lazard’s annual report has found that onshore wind and utility-scale solar have the lowest levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), a critical measure of cost-efficiency across various types of electricity. The report found that despite high end LCOE declines for selected renewable energy technologies, low ends of LCOEs have increased due to high interest rates and decreased costs for certain technologies. While utility scale solar had the lowest LCOe, costs for smaller-scale distributed solar projects have also decreased. The study also found that wind and solar generation provided $249 billion in climate and air quality health benefits from 2019 through 2022, or over $62 billion annually.
Solar Dominates US Energy Capacity Growth
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has published data showing that solar accounted for over 75% of US electrical generating
