logoalt Hacker News

gardnclyesterday at 10:05 PM2 repliesview on HN

My comment is not misleading, you're just using outdated data from 2022.

Sure, happy to quibble over units.

The most recent mid-2025 data is from lazard here, it echos exactly what I'm saying.

Website: https://www.lazard.com/research-insights/levelized-cost-of-e...

PDF of report: https://www.lazard.com/media/5tlbhyla/lazards-lcoeplus-june-...

Go to page 8 of that PDF and you will see these ranges for LCOE:

* Solar $38-$78/MWh

* Solar + battery $50-131/MWh

* Gas combined cycle (cheapest fossil fuel) $48-107/MWh

Yes, we are finally at price parity for the technologies.


Replies

fasterikyesterday at 10:12 PM

I didn't disagree that there is price parity for the levelized cost. There is still not price parity for levelized full system cost. If we used wind and solar for 95-100% of generation, the price would be much higher.

My point is not that we can or should replace wind and solar with nuclear. It's that it is far cheaper to use a combination of nuclear, wind, and solar than it is to use 100% wind and solar.

show 2 replies
belornyesterday at 11:46 PM

When they calculate that Solar + battery would cost $50-131/MWh, how is that number reached? What is the number of charge cycles and over what time span? It seems obvious that the cost of producing, installing and operating a 1MWh system of solar and batteries will cost more than a one time payment of $50-131.

Most of the time when I try to find any data there is the underlying assumption that the charge cycle is a day and night cycle, where the day produce the energy needed during the night, and not a seasonal storage that basically has a single charge cycle per year.

show 1 reply