Wind energy is now as cheap as natural gas, and solar is getting close And it's only getting cheaper.

Wind power is now comparable in price to fossil fuels, and solar is well on its way, according to a new report that confirms earlier predictions that renewables aren't just the best option for the environment - they’re unequivocally the smartest long-term investment you can make on energy.

The report, by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, found that in the second half of 2015, the global average cost of onshore wind energy will be $83 per megawatt-hour of electricity (which is down $2 from the first half of the year), and for thin film solar photovoltaics, the cost is $122 per megawatt-hour (down $7 in the past six months). The costs as they are now, and the steady drops we’ve seen in price over the past six months alone, suggest that as the technology to eke out more and more electricity from solar and wind energy gets ever-more sophisticated, those prices can only continue to fall.

"You start to go from a world where renewables are expensive, to a world where renewables are actually cheap. And that’s very meaningful," said Seb Henbest, head of the Europe, Middle East, and Africa analysis for Bloomberg New Energy Finance. "Onshore wind is today competitive in many places in the US and around the world with coal and gas fired generation technology."

The report based its analysis on what’s known as the 'levelised cost of electricity', which takes into account several factors such as interest rates, capital expenditures, and the operating costs of facilities, and uses these to compare different energy sources on a dollar value. The team analysed over 55,000 projects around the world to come up with their global average figures.

In terms of breaking it down more specifically into locations, the report found that while coal-fired electricity costs $75 per megawatt-hour in North and South America (up from $66 per megawatt hour), in Europe, you’ll have to fork out $105 for the same amount. And gas-fired electricity costs $82 in the Americas, on average (up from $76 per megawatt hour), and $118 in Europe.

Read more: http://www.sciencealert.com/wind-energy-is-now-as-cheap-as-natural-gas-and-solar-is-getting-close?utm_source=Article&utm_medium=Website&utm_campaign=InArticleReadMore