Utility-Scale Renewable Energy

This World Resources Institute fact sheet provides a framework for comparing the cost-effectiveness of utility-scale renewable energy systems against traditional electricity supply options, focusing on the concept of cost parity from different economic perspectives.

• A power purchase agreement (PPA) is considered cost-competitive for end-use consumers if the total price of electricity paid is less than or equal to the retail electricity price throughout the duration of the PPA contract or project.
• In traditional markets, renewable energy projects achieve cost-competitiveness against other technologies meeting the same capacity needs when they possess a lower or equal risk profile and/or a lower or equal average cost of energy, based on LCOE or past projects.
• To generate profit for the owner, a renewable energy project must have an average cost of energy that is lower than or equal to the average wholesale prices during the periods when the project is generating power.
• Renewable energy projects can reduce retail electricity prices for consumers by lowering wholesale generation prices via a lower marginal cost of production.
• The accuracy of cost comparisons between renewable and traditional energy is improved by specifying the electricity supply options, the perspective of the comparison, and other relevant factors, which is increasingly important as costs for large-scale solar and wind fall in the United States and globally.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Utility-Scale Renewable Energy. https://www.wri.org/research/utility-scale-renewable-energy

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Utility-Scale Renewable Energy. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/utility-scale-renewable-energy.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Utility-Scale Renewable Energy |url=https://www.wri.org/research/utility-scale-renewable-energy |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendutilityscale, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Utility-Scale Renewable Energy}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/utility-scale-renewable-energy}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }