The cost of wind, solar, and battery storage projects has risen by 20-60% over the past two years, according to French renewable and storage developer Neoen.
The firm, which has around 3 GW of renewable energy projects in Australia, said polysilicon price rises, Covid-19 lockdowns, and supply chain accidents in China were behind the increase.
Meanwhile, a lack of supply of lithium caused the cost of storage projects to surge by 60%.
Neoen expects the market to stabilize by 2025 but said costs were unlikely to return to pre-Covid levels.
The highlights of its renewable energy projects in Australia are:
- The original Tesla Big Battery (aka the Hornsdale Power Reserve)
- The Victoria Big Battery, now the biggest battery in Australia
- First to deliver synthetic inertia at grid scale (Hornsdale)
- Building the country’s biggest solar farm (Western Downs)
- Entered a unique 24/7 baseload renewable power supply deal with mining giant BHP (Goyder and Blyth)
- Begun construction of the biggest wind, solar and battery hybrid (Goyder South)
Neoen plans to achieve a global installation target of 10GW by 2025, and 20GW by 2030.
However, rising costs, as aforesaid, would cause a €750 million increase in the anticipated €5.3 billion cost of reaching the 10GW target for 2025.
Source: RENEW ECONOMY
Image Source of Big Battery at Hornsdale Power Reserve: Neoen